Even Now
by RossAndRachelForever10
Summary: The title comes from the Karen Kinsbury book Even Now. Some of the ideas I got from the book.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: This is just a little something I came up with after reading Even Now by Karen Kingsbury. It's all Luke and Lorelai but there will be appearances by Chris and Rachel.**_

_**June 6, 1994**_

Lorelai Gilmore and her nine year old daughter Rory had just finished loading the moving truck with the boxes of their stuff they had. Lorelai had just bought her first house a few weeks ago and she was very excited. It was going to be good to have her own room and bathroom. Rory would even have more room for all the books she kept saying she needed. The two looked around the potting shed that the two of them had called home for nearly ten years. She hated leaving it but she knew that having a house would be good for her daughter. Then Rory noticed something in the corner. "Mom, what is that?" she asked heading to where she pointed. When she got to the other side of the room she saw that it was an old box of her mothers. "It has your name on it." Rory picked up the box and brought it to Lorelai. When Lorelai saw it she got scared. She knew Rory wanted to find her father and the box held all the answers. She wasn't sure if she was ready for Rory to know who her father was, yet she knew her daughter needed her father.

"It's just an old box, sweetie," said Lorelai. "Come on, we need to get to our new house and unpack all the boxes." She led her daughter to the waiting truck outside.

"Do you think I'll find out who my Dad is?" asked Rory. She wanted to find her father. She didn't know much except that her mother was madly in love with him when she was sixteen but that they had been forced apart when Lorelai had gotten pregnant.

"I don't know," she told Rory. She understood Rory wanted to find her father, but Lorelai needed to find him before her daughter did. She couldn't have Rory go up to him and say that she was his daughter. He'd probably freak out. After Lorelai had moved to Hartford with her parents at sixteen she had met Christopher Hayden and told him everything that had happened after they got to know one another. He would even tell people that Rory was his daughter when he and Lorelai began dating a few years earlier. But Rory quickly figured out that he wasn't her father and got mad at him for pretending to be her father. Lorelai broke up with him not long after that but he still called the inn asking to speak to her.

When they got to their new house Lorelai saw their next door neighbors sitting in the yard. She waved at them and started to get a box out of the truck when the woman came running over. "Hiya, doll!" she said. "I'm Babette. I live in that house right there." She pointed to her house. "And that's my husband Morey. Morey! Come help these two unload their boxes!"

More than an hour later Rory and Lorelai had all there boxes unloaded and waiting to be unpacked. Rory was in her room looking through her mother's old box looking for clues about her father. Lorelai and Babette were in the hallway talking. "What made you decide to move to Stars Hollow?" asked Babette, wanting to know more about Lorelai and Rory.

Lorelai wasn't sure what to say. Should she tell this woman her story? She barely knew her neighbor but yet she seemed friendly enough. She decided to tell her story. "And right now Rory is probably looking through my box of things from when I was sixteen," she said, finishing her story. "All I know is that Luke lives in this town. I don't know where but I'm going to find him before she does. He needs to know I'm here and that he has a daughter."

"Wait, do you mean Luke Danes?" asked Babette, shocked. She knew Luke and she knew that he didn't like kids.

"Yeah, do you know him?" asked Lorelai, getting excited. This could be her chance to find Luke after searching for him for ten years.

"Of course I know him! He owns the diner in town."

Lorelai couldn't believe it. She had heard about the diner for a few months and even heard it had good coffee, but she couldn't go because she had needed to save her money for the house she just bought. Luckily she had managed her money well because she had enough to even buy some furniture for her house and she and Rory would be able to eat out most nights. "Babette, I gotta go," she said grabbing her house keys. "Look after Rory for me will you?" She ran out the door and as she ran towards the diner she couldn't help but remember the day she and Luke told their parents about Rory. It was also the day their parents decided to force them apart by moving away.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hope yall enjoy this! Now on with the story!**

_April 28, 1984_

It was two days after Lorelai's sixteenth birthday and she and her parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore were over at Luke's parents house. For as long as she could remember she and Luke had been best friends even though he turned a year older before she did. They grew up together in Hartford and when their fathers got transferred to Chicago their parents had found house close to each other. William and Kelly Danes were like a second family to Lorelai. She was close to Luke's parents and also close to his younger sister Liz. When she and Luke were in high school they started hanging out more and doing things together but they didn't officially start dating until the summer before they were juniors. Now she was three months pregnant with Luke's baby and they were telling their parents that night. She knew that sleeping with him was wrong. She had been taught that her whole life but Lorelai's parents started going to all these charities and functions leaving Lorelai alone that she had no choice but to invite Luke over until her parents would get home.

"Kelly, that chicken was wonderful," said Emily after they finished eating dinner. "You'll have to tell me the recipe so I can have the maid fix it."

Kelly was known for her cooking so it was no surprise that Emily would want the recipe. "Well, all I did was cook the chicken in a crockpot and put Italian dressing mix and chicken broth on it and let it cook all day. I also assume you'll want the recipe for the green bean bundles."

"Of course I do," said Emily.

"I'll give you the recipes right now. Just come with me. I've got a coconut cream pie for dessert. You can get the plates and serving knife," said Kelly getting up and going into the kitchen with Emily behind her.

While they were exchanging recipes Will and Richard moved into the living room and started talking about their insurance business. Luke and Lorelai followed them. After dessert Luke spoke up. "Mom, Dad, Lorelai and I need to tell you something."

"What is it, son?" asked Will.

Luke looked at Lorelai. He knew it would be hard for her to tell their parents that she was pregnant. "Do you want me to tell them?" he asked her. Lorelai only nodded her head. Luke went on. "Uh, well this is a bit hard for us to tell you, but Lorelai's pregnant." Luke looked at his parents. "It was an accident."

Silence filled the air as the four adults took in what Luke had just told them. Emily reached for her husband's hand. How could her baby girl be pregnant? After all, Lorelai was still a child even though she had just turned sixteen. She didn't understand how Lorelai could have gotten pregnant. Lorelai and Luke didn't spend a lot of time together and if he came over they would stay downstairs just so nothing could happen between them and when they would go out Luke always had Lorelai home at least an hour befor her curfew. They were both good kids and had been raised in church and went to youth group every Wednesday. But lately they had been missing church more and more since Richard and Will both had to travel for their company.

Across the room, Luke pulled Lorelai close and whispered something in her ear, both their faces showing how afraid they were. Emily looked next to her at Will and Kelly. Kelly was just sitting there frozen and next to her Will dug his elbows into his knees and hung his head. But what frightened Emily the most was Kelly's expression. Kelly was staring at Lorelai, her eyes angry and intense. It wasn't a look of shock or horror or sorrow but a look of blame.

Kelly was the first to speak. "Well-" she stood and smoothed the wrinkles in her shirt- "when is the...baby due?"

Luke looked at Lorelai. "Uh, early October right?"

"Yes." Lorelai tried to sit straighter but she looked sick to her stomack. She crossed her arms and leaned into Luke again. Emily remembered when Lorelai was little and she was sad that she'd rock her and hold her until Lorelai was happy again. Emily wanted to do that now but it'd make everyone think she approved the situation her daughter was in.

Kelly again took the initiative. "Certainly you're much too young to have a baby." She looked at Will hoping he'd back her up on this but he wasn't paying any attention so she turned back to Lorelai. "You'll be giving the baby up for adoption, is that right?"

Emily was offended by what her best friend was saying. She didn't understand why Kelly was being so harsh. None of them should be presuming anything quite so soon. She figured it had to be the shock of what they had just found out. They were all shocked to be exact.

Richard cleared his throat. His heart ached for Lorelai and knew it must have taken a lot of courage for her to do this. No, he wasn't happy about the situation and he wished it would happen ten years from now but there was nothing he could do to change that. He belived the kids that it was an accident. "Let's not be hasty, Kelly." Even though his tone was gentle, there was a hint of disappointment in his words. "This is hard for all of us, but we need to hear the kids out."

Luke looked from Richard to his parents. "Actually, Lorelai and I...well we want to keep the baby. We'll still finish high school and go to college like we planned on doing." He looked at Lorelai and smoothed his hand down her hair. "It won't be easy, but we know we can make it. We're sure."

Anger sparked in Kelly's eyes and she turned and walked over to the window and spun back around her focus on Luke. "That is the most insane thing I have ever heard."

Emily was more than angry with her friend, she was disgusted. She didn't understand how Kelly could just sign the baby off and send it to another family when it wasn't even born yet and that the only thing she cared about was her son's future. It seemed that Kelly didn't even care that Luke wanted to help Lorelai raise their child and be a father. Finally they decided that any decision on the subject would have to wait. Emily went over to her daughter and held out her arms and let her precious daughter come to her. Finding out that her daughter was pregnant had to be the worst news she had ever gotten, but Emily knew it had to be worse for Lorelai.

Laying in bed later that night, Lorelai thought about her night. She was glad Luke did most of the talking. She could tell her parents were disappointed but that they would help her get through this hard time she'd be going through for the next few months.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry for such a long wait. I promise I'll do better about updating stories! Enjoy!**

Over the next few weeks Emily and Kelly would talk about their children. Kelly would keep asking if Lorelai had changed her mind about keeping the baby. And like always Emily would say that Lorelai was determined to keep the baby. After what felt the hundredth time that Kelly had asked about Lorelai she talked to Will one night. And Luke overheard their conversation that night. "Will, we need to do something to make Lorelai give the baby up," said Kelly to her husband. "It'll ruin Luke's life and his reputation. He won't go to college if she keeps the baby."

"Kel, I'm not getting in the middle of your and Emily's fight over what Lorelai should do," said Will. He didn't like the timing of the situation as much as Kelly did but he knew he needed to stay out of this. "My mother called today."

Kelly realized that Will was trying to change the subject and didn't like it. She sighed. "What'd she want?"

"She wanted to know how we were doing. My dad's not doing well and she said that he wants to see us. What do you think about going to Stars Hollow for a few weeks?"

"That's fine. It'll be good for the kids to have some vacation time," said Kelly. "Now, what can we do about Lorelai? And don't change the subject again."

"Kelly, we're not going to do anything. Well, I'm not because I'm supporting Luke in his decision for taking responsibilty. We talked this afternoon. He told me he and Lorelai feel bad about what they did but that they're accepting responsibility for it."

Kelly continued with the conversation. "We could move to Stars Hollow. Be closer to your parents and let Luke and Liz get to spend time with your father before he dies."

"Kel, that'd be good, but I'm not helping you break up Luke and Lorelai. I agree I don't like the timing and I wish it was happening ten years from now, but this is our first grandchild and I'd like to see him or her grow up."

"You say that you agree with me on the timing of Lorelai getting pregnant, yet you won't help me make Lorelai see that giving the baby up would be good for all of us?"

"Yes, that's right, and I don't want to fight anymore tonight or say something I'll regret so I'm going to sleep." And with that Will turned the lamp off and rolled over onto his side.

In his room Luke was angry at his mother for saying what she said. He understood that his parents didn't like the timing and he didn't either but he was going to be a father. The next few days he and Lorelai thinked of ways that they could stay together. Luke had told her about the conversation his parents had had the other night. "Luke, what are we gonna do?" asked Lorelai. They were sitting in his truck in her driveway and neither wanted to go into the house.

Luke had been thinking of ways to stay with Lorelai for days. "The only solution I know is to get married." He had gone to a jewelry store the day before and got Lorelai a promise ring. It was a small ring with a white gold band and the diamonds made a crusty little heart in the center and he had it engraved with the words _Even Now._

"Luke, we can't get married," said Lorelai, laughing for the first time in weeks. "We're sixteen."

Luke reached into his pocket for the small box with the ring. "Then I'll just have to settle for this." He pulled the box out and opened it. "Lorelai, will you marry me? I know we're young right now, but we can get engaged and still go to college and then get married."

Lorelai looked at the small ring. "It's beautiful, Luke. Are you going to put it on my finger yourself, or do I have to do it?"

"Is that a yes?" he asked taking the ring out of the box.

Lorelai laughed again. "Oh. Yes, it's a yes. Of course I'll marry you!"

He grabbed her hand and put the ring on her finger. She looked at in the glow of the streetlights. "Luke it's so beautiful. I love it."

"I bought it myself and now I barely have any money left. But I promise you this, whatever happens I'll always love you and the baby and as soon as we graduate college I'm going to marry you."

Lorelai's eyes filled up with tears. "Oh, Luke, I'll always love you too." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

* * *

_June 1994_

As Lorelai made her way to town she thought back to those last few weeks she and Luke had together. She knew her dad and Luke's dad kept in touch and her father had always let Lorelai know how Luke was. She went into the diner and looked around and saw it was empty. She saw the man in the kitchen and went over to the door. "Uh, hi," she told him. "Is Luke here?"

The guy looked at her. "Not at the moment. He and his girlfriend went somewhere."

_Girlfriend? _Lorelai panicked. Luke had promised to love her forever no matter what and now he had a girlfriend? She couldn't say anything.

"Are you okay?" asked the guy. "Do you need anything? Water? Something to eat?"

"I-I'm fine," said Lorelai, sitting down on one of the stools at the counter. A few minutes later she heard the door open and saw her daughter come in to her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again. "I'm Ceasar by the way. I help Luke cook the food around here."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lorelai," she said.

"You a friend of Luke's?" asked Ceasar.

"Uh, yeah I guess you could say that. You know what, I'll take a cup of coffee while I wait for him," she told him. He poured her a cup of coffee and then headed back into the kitchen. A few minutes later Lorelai heard the door open and turned around. And there he was standing in the doorway with another woman beside him. Lorelai had to admit that she was pretty. She had red curly hair and brown eyes, but it hurt to see Luke smiling and laughing with her. She turned back to her coffee and took a sip. She realized she was crying and tried to wipe the tears away. She was hurting. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him come behind the counter to make some more coffee. She couldn't believed that he had moved on. She had tried but she always made excuses before there ever were second dates. She even wore the ring he gave her around her neck on a chain. She heard him ask her something. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" she asked and she knew she sounded like she had been crying.

"Uh, yeah, I asked if you wanted more coffee." he said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said irritably. She was angry. How could he betray like this? "Just go be with _her _and forget about me." She hadn't planned to say that, it just came out that way.

Luke was stunned. No one had ever talked to him like that and he didn't know what to say. He looked at the woman sitting behind the counter. He got a good look at her and realized who she was. "Lorelai? What-I mean how-what are you doing here?"

Lorelai looked up and he saw the tears on her face and it hurt him to see her crying. "I-I came to find you. Actually, I've been here for over nine years trying to find you. Well except for those four years I went to Yale but I looked for you there too. How could you do this to me?"

"You've been here for ten years? And you went to Yale?" he asked, surprised. "What about the baby?"

"Rory stayed with my parents while I went to Yale. And now I work at the Independence Inn as the event planner."

"So we have a daughter? And her name is Rory? Does she know about me?" he asked.

"She doesn't know much except that you live here in town," she told him. "I wanted to find you first before I told her about you."

"Well now you found me and I want to meet my daughter. Sorry, I don't mean to sound so demanding." Luke walked over to her and hugged her. "I'm so glad you're here."

"Luke I've missed you so much and now we can be a family like we were supposed to ten years ago," said Lorelai wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. "I guess I should get home to Rory."

"Can I come? I want to meet my daughter. I need to catch up on everything that's happened in her life."

"Of course you can come. Rory will be happy to see you and to finally meet you," she told him heading out the door with Luke following. He took her hand and let her lead him to her house. He was glad that Lorelai was back in his life and he hoped they could start where they had left off but he didn't know what to do about Rachel. He decided he would talk to her that night and tell her everything and hope for the best.

**Okay so chapter three is done. I'll have the next chapter up soon...for this story and the other one. School starts Monday so I'll only have time on weekends to update. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay so I know it's been a while. School started back and gradually every day I wrote a little bit and now I'm done writing this chapter. And I'm about to start the fifth chapter since I'm in such a writing mood. Enjoy!**

When Lorelai and Luke got back to her house she thanked Babette for staying with Rory. "Luke, how about you wait here in the living room? I'll go get Rory." Lorelai walked to Rory's room and walked. "Hey, kid, whatcha doin'?"

"Hi, Mommy," said Rory. "Where'd you go?"

"Oh just somewhere," she told her daughter. "Hey, come into the living room with me. There's something you should see."

"What is it?" asked Rory getting off her bed and walking with Lorelai into the living room. She noticed the man in the flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap. She leaned over to her mother and whispered, "Mommy, who is that?"

"Hold on, sweets, and I'll tell you," said Lorelai.

Luke looked at the two of them and noticed that Rory looked a lot like Lorelai but that Rory had the same color eyes he did. "Hi," he said to Rory. He couldn't believe he had a daughter and that he had missed out on so much of her life. He looked at Lorelai. "How old is she?"

"She'll be ten on October eighth," she told him. Lorelai looked at her daughter. "Honey, this is your father. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner but I wanted to find him first and tell him about you."

Rory looked from Lorelai to Luke and back again. "You could have told me and we could have found Daddy together."

Lorelai felt guilty. Rory had a point. "I should have done that and I don't know why I didn't."

"I'm glad you found him, though," said Rory. She went over and sat down next to Luke. "I'm Rory. It's short for Lorelai."

Luke laughed. "I know your mom told me."

"Are you and Mommy going to get back together? I want us to be a family," said Rory. "And I'd like to have a little brother soon okay?"

"Rory!" exclaimed Lorelai.

Luke looked up. "Lorelai it's okay." He turned back to Rory. "Rory, I don't know if we can get back together right now. Things are...complicated right now."

"Why?" she asked, confused by what he meant.

"Well, uh, because I have a girlfriend," he answered and he instantly regretted saying that when he saw the hurt look in her eyes.

"But," said Rory, with tears in her eyes, "you promised to love Mommy forever. She said you did!"

Luke sighed. "You're right, I did promise that, and Rory I still love your mommy very much and I always will. I even love you, even if I did just meet today. I loved you the minute I found out about you."

"But you promised!" she protested and then she ran to her room and slammed the door.

"Lorelai, that's not how I wanted that conversation," said Luke. He looked toward Rory's room. "Do you think she hates me?"

"She'll be over it in a few hours," said Lorelai sitting down next to him. "I'll talk to her later. But Luke, you did promise. And it hurt seeing you with her this afternoon."

"I know I promised and I'm going to be here for you two like I should have been," he said. He stood up and started walking around the room. "If our parents never tore us apart ten years ago we wouldn't be here right now."

"I know, babe, but we are and we can't change that," she told him.

"Tell me what happened after I left that summer," he said.

"After you left, I'd hardly get out of bed except to eat and to go to a doctor's appointment. The rest of the time I stayed in bed because I missed you so much," she told him. "In August we moved to Hartford and my parents enrolled me in private school."

Luke interrupted her story. "When was Rory born? I knew you were due in October but I didn't know when."

Lorelai looked at him. "She was born on October eighth at 4:03 in the morning. I'll go get her baby pictures." She got up and quickly found Rory's baby pictures and showed them to Luke. The first picture had been taken a few minutes after she was born. "Even though I complained a lot about the pain the day she was born, I'd do it all again."

"You would?" he asked her. He looked through the pictures. He couldn't believe how much Rory had looked like when she was a baby. "She was beautiful, Lorelai. Still is, just like her mother."

Lorelai smiled and looked down at the floor. "Thanks. She's my whole world. I would do anything for her. You know, she wants to go to Harvard?"

"Really? That's impressive," he said.

"Yeah, she wants to be a journalist. I don't know how I'm going to help her get there, but I will. She's a smart kid. She must get that from you."

"And you," he told her. "Don't forget you're smart too." He looked around the house noticing it for the first time. "This is a nice place, but what's with all the boxes?"

"Rory and I just moved in today," said Lorelai. "We lived in the potting shed at the Independence Inn. But I saved every paycheck just to get this house."

"That must've taken a while," he said. "I can tell you're raising Rory right."

"Yeah, it did take a while but having a house will be good for her. She needs you in her life too," Lorelai told him. She looked at him and had to remind herself that he had moved on and tried not to get lost in those eyes of his, the ones that could see through her. He always knew when she was lying about how she was doing or when she was telling the truth.

Luke looked at her. "I'd like to be more involved in her life, if it's okay with you."

"Hey, the door's open, all you have to do is use," she told him.

"Thanks." He got up and headed to the door with Lorelai following behind him. "I guess I should be going. There's something I need to do. But I'll come over tonight and see Rory. What would the two of you like for dinner?"

"Chinese would be good," she told him.

After Luke left he walked through town to Rachel's house. He needed to tell her about Rory and of course Lorelai. When he got there he knocked on the door and she let him in. "Rachel, there's something I have to tell you and you're not going to like it," he told her as he sat down on her couch.

Rachel sat down next to him. "What is it? You know you can tell me anything."

He looked at her and then down at the floor. "I have a daughter."

Rachel was shocked and didn't know what to say. After a moment of silence she finally spoke. "How?" she asked him. "You said you'd never cheat on me, Luke. Who is she?"

"Rach, I didn't cheat. Rory, that's my daughter, will be ten in October."

"You have a ten year old daughter?" she asked him, her voice raising. She stood and walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water. "And you're just now telling me this? How long have you known?"

"I just found out about her today. Well, actually I knew I had a kid, I just didn't know I had a daughter," he told her.

"Well you could have told me that a long time when we started dating, but no, you had to keep this secret to yourself."

"I didn't think it was all that important since I never saw Lorelai again! I just found her today after ten years!" Luke was gettting madder by the minute. "And you should know I would never cheat on you!"

Rachel laughed. "Oh yeah? Well I heard that you kissed her in the diner this afternoon! Miss Patty saw it who told Taylor who told everyone else in town including me!"

Luke looked at her. "Rachel..." he trailed off not knowing what to say.

Rachel sighed and crossed her arms. "Luke, I think maybe we should just take a break for a little while. I'm going away tomorrow to do some photography for a few months in Africa so some time apart will be good for us. All we ever do anymore is fight with each other. And you're free to date this Lori woman-"

Luke interrupted. "Her name is Lorelai."

"Whatever. If you want to date her that's fine. I'll be back in December and we can see what we want to do then," she said. "I'll see you in a few months, Luke."

He walked to the door and turned around. "Rachel, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

Rachel sighed and opened the door for him. "Yeah, so am I, Luke."

Luke told her goodbye and went back to his apartment and thought about the fight with Rachel. He knew now that he should have broken up with her months ago. They had started fighting more then not speaking to each other for days. He started walking around his apartment trying to figure out what to do since it wasn't time to go back to Lorelai's house to see Rory yet. Then he decided to go see his parents since it had been a few days since he saw them. He walked out of his apartment and out the diner and headed to his parents house.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long delay. I've been busy with school. Now that this chapter is finished I'm off to do more homework! Hope you love it. Or at least like it. **

When Luke got to his parents house he walked on in and found his parents sitting in the living room watching TV. "Hi Mom, Dad," he said to them. He sat down in one of the chairs.

Will looked over at him and said, "Luke, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Dad," said Luke. "Rachel and I broke up for good."

Kelly turned off the TV and looked at her son. "Oh, honey, breakups are hard but you two will work it out. You two have been breaking up and getting back together for years."

"No, Mom, I don't think we will get back together," he said, trying to remain calm. "Lorelai is in town."

"She found you?" asked Kelly surprised. She hadn't heard anything about Lorelai in ten years but that had been because she had stopped talking to Emily and didn't want anything to do with them.

"Yeah, she did, Mom. And actually she's been living here for a while but just now found me. I have a daughter. She'll be ten in October."

"What's her name?" asked Will.

"Her name is Rory. I just met her today. Dad, I think you'd like her. I'm going back over there to spend some time with Rory tonight."

"When you've gotten the chance to know her some, bring her on over here. Your mom and I would love to meet her," said William.

Kelly got up and headed for the kitchen. "Well I'm glad you met your daughter Luke."

Luke followed her. "Mom! Why can't you be happy for me? I finally found Lorelai after ten years! I would have found her ten years ago if you had just helped me find her! Dad tried to help but he said that Lorelai's parents had no idea where she went to!"

"She ruined you life Luke," said Kelly, trying to remain calm. "Moving here was good for you, for all of us. You still went to college. Lot of good that did you though since you opened that diner. You could have played baseball for a living."

"Yeah, well, I wanted to stay here," he said.

Luke stayed for a few more minutes and told his dad about what he knew about Rory. He left and got Lorelai and Rory the Chinese food they wanted and headed to their e house. Lorelai answered the door. "Hey, how are...Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why does everyone keep asking me if I'm okay?" he said to her. "Here's your food." He handed her the bags of take out and followed her into the kitchen.

"I only asked because you look sad," she told him taking the food out of the bags and getting plates and glasses. "Rory!" she yelled. "Food's here!"

Rory came out of her room and to the table. "What are we having?" she asked excitedly.

"We're having basically every Chinese food that has chicken in it," said Lorelai. "Did you see who's here?"

Rory looked up and saw Luke. "Why are you here?" she asked him. She was still mad at him for breaking his promise of always being there for her and Lorelai.

"Rory!" said Lorelai. "Be nice. I think he's had a bad afternoon. Do you want to talk about it?" She looked at Luke horrified. "I mean, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. It's none of mine business."

Luke thanked Lorelai for being thoughtful and during dinner Rory finally warmed up to Luke and told him everything about her school, and friends and what she loved to do at home. After she went to bed Luke and Lorelai went into the living room and sat on the couch. Lorelai sat down and faced Luke. "So, Luke, why aren't you okay now?"

"Rachel and I got into a fight," he told her. "I told her about Rory and she thought I'd been keeping Rory a secret all these years. We got into a fight and then she told me she was going to Africa or Australia, something like that for six months and that we should take some time to be apart from each other."

"Oh, Luke, I'm sorry. Uh, why's she going to Africa?"

"She's a photographer. She likes to travel and see the world. We've actually broken up and gotten back together about ten times just because she had to go somewhere to see what's out there in the world."

"I'm guessing you still don't like to travel?" asked Lorelai.

"No, that's partly why I didn't want to play baseball for a living. All that traveling." Luke looke at her and smiled. "How'd you guess that?"

"Because, Luke, we know each other so well," she said gesturing to themselves. "Well I still know everything about you."

"Don't worry, I know everything about you too. You always wanted to travel and go to Europe. You still want to do that?" he asked.

"Yeah, Rory and I have decided that once she graduates from high school, we're going to backpack around Europe," said Lorelai. She got up and started looking through the boxes still in the living room. "Man, I need to take these boxes upstairs and unpack."

Luke got up and picked the box up for her. "I can help you carry your boxes upstairs for you."

"Really? That'd be great," she said leading him to her room. She had gotten most of her clothes and shoes unpacked but they were all lying around on the floor and on the bed. "Uh, just put the box on the floor."

Luke looked around the room. "Wow, how do you find anything in here? It's like being inside a woman's mind."

Lorelai got a dreamy look on her face. "If this were my mind, it would be Paris, and you would be an unlimited credit card." She walked over to her bed and started gathering her clothes. "You know, I do have a system here."

"Oh yeah?" asked Luke. "What's the system?"

"Uh," said Lorelai. "You know..." She sighed. "Okay fine, I have no system. But it works fine. I just need to find those blue high heels for tomorrow night. Where'd I put them?" She started looking on her closet floor. "You can help by looking for them. They're blue."

Luke started looking around for the missing shoes. "You know, you really need to get more organized. I knew it was bad ten years ago, but it seems to have gotten worse."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get one of those closet companies to come and organize my closet and my room," said Lorelai now searching the bedroom floor.

"No way," he said to her finding the shoes for her. "I'll organize your room and closet myself." He handed her the shoes. "What do you need these for?"

"Thanks for finding them," she said laying them on her bed. "Sookie and I are going out on the town tomorrow night. It's girls night."

"Aah," he said as if he knew what she was talking about. "If you need me to, I'll watch Rory for you."

"That'd be great actually," said Lorelai going back downstairs to unpack the living room boxes. She opened one box and started pulling pillows out and putting them on the couch and chairs. "I think it'd be good for Rory to spend some time with you. She needs you in her life."

"What time should I be here?" he asked.

"Uh, around six maybe?" she said. "Rory comes to the Inn with me some days and some days she hangs out with Lane Kim."

"Okay, sounds good," he said. He started for the door. "I, uh, guess I'll get going. "I'll get started on organizing your closet and room sometime this week when I get everything." He opened the door. "You and Rory should come in for breakfast in the morning."

"Morning? There's a morning? Rory and I sleep in. We love our sleep. It's what keeps us pretty," said Lorelai, teasing him.

"I know how you love your sleep," he said. "But seriously, come for breakfast or for lunch."

Lorelai thought for a minute. "Well, I can't cook...so yeah, we'll come in for breakfast." After he left she leaned against the door and smiled to herself. She was glad she had found Luke and maybe in the next few months of getting to know him better they could be more than friends. But she had to put Rory first and see how she would do around Luke. She knew Rory had been excited about them dating but Lorelai wanted Rory to know her father better before starting a relationship with him. She had her heart broken when he left before and she didn't want that to happen again. She finally went upstairs and changed into her pajamas and after clearing off her bed went to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning Lorelai and Rory went to Luke's diner for breakfast not because he had invited them to come for breakfast but because there wasn't any food at the house. They sat down at a table close to the door. Lorelai grabbed a menu and looked at it. "So, sweets, what looks good to you?" she asked Rory. "There's pancakes, eggs, waffles, biscuits and gravy."

"Oh, pancakes sound good," said Rory. "And so do the waffles."

"Well, how 'bout we get pancakes now, and this afternoon, I'll get some waffles to make at home," said Lorelai.

"Okay," said Rory. "Uh, are you going to get him to come over and take our order? We're the only ones in here."

Lorelai looked over and saw Luke counting money over at the counter. "Hold on, I'll go tell him what we want." She walked over to the counter and sat down on a stool. "Hey, you," she said giving him that smile that always turned Luke on.

Luke looked up and smiled at her. "Hey, back to ya," he said.

"So your daughter and I are sitting right over there, and we're hungry," she told him. "We need food now. Oh and I need a cup of coffee and Rory wants either milk or orange juice. Whicever one you have."

"I've got both." He turned for the kitchen as Lorelai headed back to the table. He couldn't believe he finally found Lorelai, the love of his life after ten years. After the food was done he carried it out to them with their drinks. "Here ya go."

"Thanks, Luke," said Lorelai. "You know, since no one else is in here you can sit with us."

Luke thought a minute and figured she was right so he pulled the chair out and sat between the two girls. "So, Rory, what have you been up to?" he asked the ten year old.

"Since you saw me last night?" she asked him, giggling. "Nothing."

"Oh, right," he said. "Sorry about that. Oh, hey, I'm coming over tonight."

Rory furrowed her brows confused. "Why?" she asked him.

Luke looked at Lorelai, not sure how much to tell Rory. "Because your Mom and Sookie are going out tonight and I thought it'd be a good idea if we just hung out."

"Okay, that'd be good," she agreed.

~XXXXXXXXX~

Lorelai and Sooke were walking home later that night after seeing a movie at the bookstore in town. Lorelai wasn't really talking since she was so busy wondering if everything was going well between Luke and Rory. She was barely listening to what Sookie was saying. "Lorelai, you aren't listening to me!" exclaimed Sookie after telling her friend about the new foods she wanted to try at the inn. Sookie had just been promoted head chef at the Independence Inn. "What's wrong sweetie?" she asked Lorelai.

Lorelai sighed. "I'm sorry I've been in a weird mood. It's just, I left Rory with a babysitter tonight and I feel weird about it."

Sookie patted Lorelai's arm. "It'll be okay, besides, we've had our fun for the night! Who's the babysitter? Is it Babette? Or Miss Patty? I'd be afraid to leave my kid alone with them too."

Lorelai shook her head and crossed her arms and looked down at the ground. "No it's neither of them. It's her father."

Sookie got a confused look on her face. "You mean Christopher is back around?" she asked. "You said you never wanted to see him again after he tried to convince other people he was Rory's father four years ago."

"No not Christopher," she said to Sookie. "Her father is Luke Danes. I just found him after ten years of trying to find him."

"You mean the one who owns the diner?" asked Sookie. "_That _Luke Danes?"

"Uh, yeah that's the one. Why?"

"Because I've known Luke for as long as I've known you!" exclaimed Sookie. "If you had told me who Rory's father was ten years ago you and Luke could already be married! Darn that Rachel for being around. She's always breaking Luke's heart when she leaves on long trips. I'm surprised he took her back when she broke up with him last year."

"I had a lot going on then after moving out of my parents house," said Lorelai, feeling guilty in more than one way. "I was getting over the fact that my mother lied to me about helping me find Luke after I had Rory. She didn't even bother trying and we got into a huge fight and after they went to go to a party I packed all of my stuff and what little I could bring with Rory and came here."

"So that's why you always dread going to see your parents?" asked Sookie. "You never told me that."

"I think there a lot of things about why I came to Stars Hollow I never told you." Lorelai sighed and looked up and found that they were at her house. "I'll see you Monday Sookie."

"I'm sorry if I brought up something I shouldn't have," said Sookie feeling bad.

"Sook, it's okay, really. I've just been in a weird mood all night," said Lorelai, opening the door. "Goodnight Sookie." She closed the door behind her, leaned against it and sighed. All evening long she couldn't stop thinking about Luke. Yes, she was glad he wanted to be involved in Rory's life but Lorelai had waited ten years for him. She had dated Christopher just to make her mother happy but she never slept with him because she knew she would find Luke again.

Luke came into the hallway and found her leaning against the door. "You're home, that's good." He studied her face for a minute. "Are you okay?" he asked coming closer.

Lorelai considered saying that she was fine but knew better because Luke knew her so well. For the fourth time that night, she sighed. "No, Luke, I'm not okay," she told him going into the living. She noticed that the living room looked cleaner and that the boxes were gone. "Wow, thanks for taking the boxes out, the room looks better. Sorry, got offtrack for a second. All day I've thought about you and me and just now I've realized that I still like you."

"I like you too," said Luke, not sure what she meant.

Lorelai looked at him. "No, Luke, I _really _like you a lot. Actually, it's more like I still love you."

"Oh," he said. He sat down on the couch. He had to admit he was surprised she still felt that way about him, but truth be told he still loved her too. He looked up at her and motioned for her to sit next to him. "Lorelai, I still love you too, but you know Rachel just broke up with me last night, so right now I'm going to need a little time to get over that. But what we can do is spend time together and get to know each other again."

Lorelai nodded her head. "I understand," she replied. "I want to give you time to get over her. But, I want to date you again. I wanted to find you ten years ago after Rory was born just so we could start where we left off and go to Yale like we had planned on and get married. Right now we're just a few years behind the starting where we left off part."

Luke looked at her surprised because that's just how he had felt. He had wanted to find her so badly and start where they had left off. If only they had found each other ten years ago Rory never would have grown up without him and he would have been around to see her first smile, first steps, all her firsts. And he and Lorelai would have gone to school together like planned and gotten married. "How is it that you know exactly how I feel?" he asked her, smiling.

She smiled at him. "Because, Luke, we know each other," she answered. "We grew up together and we dated for two years before everyone tore us apart."

"Of course, I knew that," he teased her. "So, tomorrow is Sunday. I told Rory that if she'd like to, she could come to church with me. What about you?"

"If Rory is going, then I'll go too," she said. "I think I need to go to church more. My parents go every Sunday and they never did that when we were younger."

"I'm glad you'll go," said Luke. "I think it'll be good for you and Rory. I'll come pick you up about ten. We'll be going to my parent's house for lunch after the service ends."

Lorelai hesitated. She had to see his parents? She just knew that his mother would still hate her after all these years. "Luke, I don't know. I'm sure your mom still hates after all these years just because I had Rory."

"Yeah, I know that, but please come. Dad said he wants to meet Rory and I know he'd love to see you," said Luke.

She thought for a minute and finally nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, I'll come tomorrow."

"Great," he said heading for the door. "See you in the morning."

"Yeah, see you," she told him. After he left, Lorelai quickly got ready for bed and set her alarm. Deep down she knew that going to church with Rory and Luke would be good for her but she still wasn't so sure if it was for her.


	7. Chapter 7

Early Sunday morning Rory came into Lorelai's room and jumped onto the bed. "Mommy, wake up!" she shouted. "You need to wake up and get ready for church! Daddy said he'd be here at nine!" Rory started jumping up and down on the bed to make Lorelai wake up.

Lorelai rolled over. "Rory, honey, what time is it?" she asked her daughter sleepily. "Mommy likes to sleep in you know that."

Rory looked at the clock on Lorelai's nightstand. "It's seven," she declared.

"Ugh, it's too early," said Lorelai rolling back over and closing her eyes.

"But Mommy, it'll take you at least two hours to get ready," said Rory, getting off the bed. She pulled back the sheets and pulled on her mother's arm. "Come on!"

Lorelai got out of bed. "Okay, I'm up. You happy?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Rory. "Now go!"

Lorelai got ready and was ready ten minutes before Luke got there. She went downstairs where she found Rory waiting for her. "Okay, I'm ready," she told her daughter. "Now, why are we going to church with Daddy again?"

"Because he invited us," said Rory. "And he thinks it'd be good if we knew more about Jesus. Who is Jesus, Mom?"

Lorelai hesitated. She really should have gone to church more. She couldn't explain this to her daughter, it'd be too much. "You'll find out in Sunday school," she told her instead.

Rory thought for a minute. "Mom?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Does Jesus love me?"

Lorelai smiled. "Of course He does. Who wouldn't love you?" The doorbell rang and Lorelai quickly gathered her things. "I believe that's Daddy." The two of them walked over to the door and Rory opened it.

Rory grinned when she saw Luke. "Hi, Daddy!" she exclaimed giving him a hug.

"Hey, kid," he said picking her up. "I see you're excited."

"I am!" she told him. "Daddy, who's Jesus?

Luke looked at Lorelai. "Uh, well, he died for you," said Luke.

Rory crinkled her nose. "Why would he do that?" she asked, confused.

Luke took her hand and the three of them made their way to church. "Well, because, he loved you very much. He loved everyone in the world so much that he died for them."

"Even you and Mom?" she asked him.

"Yes even us," he told her.

Lorelai took hold of Rory's other hand. "Rory, you don't want to spoil Sunday school by asking too many questions, do you?"

She shook her head. "No, I guess not."

At church, Luke and Lorelai dropped Rory off at her Sunday school class and they made their way to the sanctuary. Lorelai looked over at him. "I didn't know you were serious about coming to church. We hardly went when we were kids."

"I guess I started coming more after we moved here," Luke said to her. "My grandparents came every Sunday so we started coming too. And eventually we all got saved."

"Even Liz?" she asked. She remembered that his younger sister was rebellious when she was a teenager.

Luke looked at her. "Liz is," he began. "She doesn't believe any of it. She got pregnant a few months after we moved here."

"Oh, Luke, I'm sorry," said Lorelai. "Is she still around?"

"She lives in New York with her son, Jess," he told her. "He's a year younger than Rory. Liz stays in trouble all the time and Mom and Dad have tried everything to convince her to come back. Jess's father left a few weeks after he was born and we haven't heard from him since. Liz can barely keep a job and all the guys she dates leaves with what money she does earn."

"That must be so hard," she said.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Come on, we better get in there before the service starts."

For once in her life, Lorelai actually enjoyed being at church. She didn't feel like it was something she had to do. The message seemed to speak to her like it was written for her. She felt something happening to her but didn't know what yet. At the end of the service Lorelai decided that she and Rory needed to come to church every Sunday. Not just because Luke went even though that was part of it, but because it was important to have a relationship with God. On the way to Luke's parents house for lunch, Lorelai turned to him. "Luke, I want to come again next Sunday."

"You do?" asked Luke surprised.

Rory nodded her agreement. "I want to come back too."

Luke was glad that Rory wanted to come back to church, but Lorelai? He had known she wasn't the type of person to go to church regularly. They rarely went to church when they were teenagers and after the first time they slept together they had stopped going. "I get that Rory wants to come back," said Luke, to his girls. "But, Lorelai, why do you want to come back? You said you weren't a church person."

"Yes, I know I said that," she told him. "But I was sixteen and we had just you know, so I figured why would God care for me after what we'd just done? But today, it seemed like the message was speaking to me, reminding me that God does love even if I do something wrong. I feel very good about this decision. And plus, this is who you are now, and I accept that."

Luke gave her a silly grin. "Okay, what'd you do with the girl I fell in love with so many years ago?"

Lorelai laughed and started walking in front of Luke and Rory. "I'm still the same person," she answered, "but I now have a different view about church. Church is very good and I can't wait until next Sunday!"

Luke lauged too. "Rory, I think Mommy has gone crazy!"

Rory grabbed her parent's hands and walked between them. "Dad, Mom is already crazy!"

"Good point," he said to Rory. "Come on, we need to get to my parent's house."

"Were your parent's at church, Luke?" asked Lorelai.

"Yeah, of course they were," he said. "They were probably sitting closer to the front though. Are you nervous about seeing them for the first time in over ten years?"

"I am," she admitted. "Your mom wasn't too happy that I was pregnant, remember? She wanted me to give Rory up."

Luke nodded his head. "I remember. She and my Dad would fight a lot because she wanted you to give the baby up and Dad didn't want you to. He supported my decision to help you. After we moved here to be closer to Dad's family, he tried everything to help me find you."

"I always knew I liked your father the best," teased Lorelai.

They finally arrived at his parent's house and walked into the kitchen where his mom was making lunch. "Hey, Mom, Dad," greeted Luke.

Will put down the Sunday paper. "Luke, I don't think we saw you at church earlier."

"You probably didn't," said Luke.

During lunch, Will would include Lorelai and Rory in the conversation but when Kelly was talking she wouldn't include Lorelai or Rory. After lunch, Will, Luke, and Rory went into the living room. Lorelai offered to help with the dishes but Kelly refused which made Lorelai angrier than she already was. "Okay, I know you weren't happy that I got pregnant," began Lorelai keeping her voice calm, or at least trying to, "but it's been ten years. Why do you still hate me?"

Kelly faced Lorelai. "You really want to know?" she asked. "You ruined Luke's life! He was supposed to go to college to become a better baseball play and play professionally. Instead, he decided to turn down the chance to go pro and stayed here because he thought he needed to find you! And he was supposed to get engaged to Rachel."

Lorelai felt liked she'd been hit by a Mack truck. "He still went to college, though," she said, in barely a whisper. For a second, she thought she saw a flicker of guilt in Kelly's eyes but then it was gone.

Luckily, Luke, Will and Rory came into the kitchen. Luke spoke up, "Mom, do not speak to Lorelai that way! We don't regret having Rory. And I chose not to play pro baseball because that wasn't my dream! It was yours! Only Dad knew I wanted to stay here. Everyone knew that except you. And for your information, I never loved Rachel. Lorelai is the one I love. I always have and always will. Now, we're going home. Dad, I'll see you tomorrow." And with that Luke took Lorelai and Rory back home.

Outside Lorelai's house, the three of them were standing on the porch. "Lorelai, Rory, I'm so sorry for the way my mom treated you," apologized Luke.

Rory was still hurt that her grandmother didn't try to get to know her. "Does she not love me?" asked Rory, with tears in her eyes.

Luke piked Rory up and Lorelai let them in to the house where they went into the living room. "Rory, I'm sure deep down my mother does love you," Luke told his daughter. "She's just never been happy about the situation. And Mom and I will explain that part to you when you're a little older."

Rory nodded her head in agreement. "Do you and your mom not get along?" she asked him.

"No, we don't we agree on a lot of things," said Luke.

Lorelai spoke up. "That's like me and my mother. She wanted to control the way I lived after we moved. After Rory was born she wanted to hire a nanny to take care of Rory and I didn't want that."

Luke was surprised. "You usually had a good relationship with your parents."

"Yeah, with my dad," said Lorelai. "My mom and I never got along. Yes she became a bit more protective after we said I was pregnant but she controlled everything. And you should have seen the dresses she tried to dress Rory in. That's why I decided to move here and start a new life for me and Rory."

Rory had gone on to her room so Luke and Lorelai were left alone. "I'm really glad we found each other again," said Luke sitting next to her on the couch. "I hate that I missed out on so much of Rory's life."

"Luke, it's okay," lied Lorelai. "Okay no it's not because I really needed you when she was a baby. We up at twelve to change diapers, three to feed, and at five we had very meaningful discussions."

Luke took her hands in his. "Lorelai, from now on, I'm going to be here for you and Rory. Night or day you can call me and I'll come."

"Really?" asked Lorelai, happily. "Will you come in the middle of the night when we have bad dreams?"

"Uh, no," said Luke. "And not when I'm busy working either."

"I would never do that to you!" exclaimed Lorelai. "Okay, maybe I would but I'll try not to."

Luke got up. "I guess, uh, better go," he said to her. He headed for the door with Lorelai following closely behind. "I'm glad you came to church today. You and Rory."

Lorelai smiled. "I'm glad we went," she said honestly. "Rory and I will see you tomorrow for breakfast in the morning."

Luke grinned at her. "Have I told you lately how happy I am you're here?"

"Hmm, I think you have," she teased, "but I love hearing you say it." She looked into his eyes. She wanted to kiss him so badly. She actually wanted to do more than kiss. She wanted to take him upstairs and demand that he make love to her. She couldn't take it anymore. She stepped closer to Luke and kissed him.

Luke was surprised that she kissed him and he let himself get caught up in it, pulling her closer but after a minute he pulled away. "Lorelai," he groaned, "we can't do this yet."

Lorelai hung her head sadly. "I know," she told him. "I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry." She folded her arms against her chest and fought back the tears that threatened. "I haven't been with anyone since you and I've missed you so much."

Luke took her in his arms and held her. "I haven't been with anyone either and I've missed you too," he said to her. "But I did just get out of a relationship and need some time before we start anything, okay?"

Lorelai nodded her head. "Yeah, okay," she said. She pulled away and looked at him giving him a grin. "I guess Rory and I will see you tomorrow morning for breakfast."

Luke laughed. "I better," he said, smiling. "Rory says that all the two of you eat are Pop-Tarts for breakfast and coffee. You do know that giving her coffee is bad for her right?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said, smiling. "She asks and when I say no she gives me those puppy dog eyes. How can I say no to that?"

"You're right," he agreed, "but she's not getting coffee until she's thirteen."

"Fine, just don't blame me when she looks at you with the puppy dog eyes and you give in," teased Lorelai. "We'll see you in the morning, Luke."

"See ya," he said, leaving and closing the door behind him.

Lorelai went back and sat down on the couch and turned the TV on. It was only five o'clock and she had nothing to do. She flipped through the channels and after finding nothing she wanted to watch she turned the TV off. Rory came out of her room and sat down with Lorelai. "Did Daddy leave?" she asked.

"Yeah, he went back home," she told her daughter. "He said he'll see us for breakfast in the morning."

"Reall?" asked Rory. "Can we go there everyday?"

Lorelai laughed. "Of course we can, kid."

That night Lorelai laid awake thinking about Luke. She was ready to start a relationship with him again but she wasn't sure how. However, there was one thing she knew for certain. She was still in love with Luke and had never stopped loving him.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hi! Missed me? Yes it's been a while. Sorry. So this chapter is longer than usual but it demanded to be written. Hope you enjoy! Read and review. **

"But I want a Pop-Tart!" cried Rory.

Lorelai and Rory were walking to the diner the next morning. Lorelai needed to go to town anyways to get groceries so it was a perfect opportunity to have breakfast with Luke and then go to Doose's before heading to work later. "Sorry, but we have nothing to eat at home. And besides, don't you want to see your dad?"

"Well, yes, but why'd we have to come to town?" asked Rory.

"Again, we have nothing to eat at home," answered Lorelai. "That's why we came to town. So we can eat breakfast at the diner and then go to Doose's before I have to head to work."

Rory looked at her mother as they crossed the street to the diner. "You have to work today?"

Lorelai's heart broke when she heard the disappointment in her daughter's voice. "Yeah, and I'm really sorry too. I know you want to hang out and have 'Mommy-Daughter' time but work is important." A thought came to Lorelai. "Maybe you could spend the day with your dad."

"But won't he have to work too?" asked Rory.

Lorelai sighed and opened the door to the diner. She noticed that Taylor, Babette, and Miss Patty were there eating breakfast too. "You want to sit at the counter?" Lorelai asked Rory.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Rory.

They sat down on the stools at the counter and both opened a menu to see the breakfast items. Luke walked over to them. "Hey," he said to them.

"Good morning," replied Lorelai.

Rory looked up from her menu. "Hi, Dad!" she said.

All of a sudden the hushed whispers of the patrons were heard. Lorelai heard Patty say to Babette, "He's Rory's father? Isn't that interesting?"

"Yes, I thought so too the other day when I found out," whispered Babette. "I wonder how they met."

Luke's jaw clenched and Lorelai noticed he was getting angry. It wasn't Rory's fault. The whole town just didn't know when to keep things to themselves and stay out of someone's life. She quickly told him she and Rory wanted pancakes and coffee, and orange juice. Luke escaped to the kitchen to cook their food just so he wouldn't have to hear the town people talking about him. He came back out a few minutes later with their plates.

Patty came up to the counter just then. "Luke is it true that you are Rory's father?" she asked him.

Lorelai answered that one for Luke. "Yes, Patty he is."

Patty studied her. "You know, Luke here has a girlfriend. Her name is Rachel. I was actually the one that introduced them after he moved here. I guess they'll be getting engaged any day now."

"Uh, okay," replied Lorelai. She knew Patty well enough to know that she always made it her duty to know what was going on in everyone's lives.

"Yes, I'm sure you would like Rachel very much. She's a very sweet person."

Lorelai was getting a little uncomfortable. She knew that Rachel had left again but was surprised that Patty didn't know. "I'm sure she is," replied Lorelai, taking a bite of her food.

"But she broke up with Dad the other day," answered Rory, who was just a bit confused. Sure she was going to be ten soon and she was very smart but she was a bit confused with what was happening around her.

Patty glanced at Luke. "You and Rachel broke up?"

"Yes, we broke up," answered Luke, trying not to get angry. "Haven't you ever noticed that she doesn't like staying in one place for long? She left because she had this job offer to go to Africa or Australia or something like that and we broke up."

Miss Patty gestured to Lorelai. "I should warn you to be careful. Lorelai breaks hearts easily."

Lorelai knew what Miss Patty was referring to. "I do not," she said defending herself. "Luke don't listen to her. I only broke up with Christopher because he was pretending to be someone else."

Patty shook her head. "Lorelai, dear, the man was in love with you and you broke his heart."

"You would have too if he was going around saying your daugther was his kid!" said Lorelai.

Luke looked at her. "He tried to pass Rory off as his daughter?" he asked.

"Yes, and I didn't like it at all," declared Lorelai. "In fact I didn't like him either. The only reason I dated him was to make my mother happy. She knows his mother from college and they've been friends ever since. My mother still has this idea that I'm going to get back together with him and it's been three years since I broke up with him."

"You do know I'm still here, don't you?" asked Rory. She had been listening to the conversation while eating and didn't like being left out. She could still remember how her mother's old boyfriend had said that he was her father to people who would comment on what a cute family they were. Of course, Rory had known better. She knew Christopher wasn't her father. Rory had always been smart for her age and she knew she looked nothing like Christopher. When she had told her mother what Chris would tell people, she broke up with him as soon as she got the chance. Chris would only say he was her father when it was just him and Rory, never when Lorelai was around.

"Sorry, sweetie," said Lorelai, apologetically. She glanced at the time on her cell phone. She had just gotten it a couple weeks ago and was proud of it.

Luke saw her pull out the phone and pointed out his 'No Cell Phones' sign. "No cell phones," he told her.

Lorelai stared at him. "I wasn't using it!" she protested. "I was just checking the time."

"Then wear a watch," he said.

"I hate watches," she declared. "There are so many different ones. Some have no numbers, some have just the numbers three, six, nine, and twelve, and some have all those mark things but no numbers and then I get confused on what time it is."

"Then get a digital watch," he shot back.

"No way. Those things are ugly. I'd want a cute watch, like a Mickey Mouse watch or something like that."

Luke had no response to that and changed the subject. "Do you work today?" he asked her instead.

"I like how you just changed the subject," she commented. "And yes I have to be at work in an hour and I need groceries so I better go." Lorelai looked over at Rory. "Rory, what do you want to do?"

Rory thought for a minute. "Can I stay here?"

"If it's okay with your dad, then you can stay. If not you'll have to go to Lane's house," said Lorelai. She glanced at Luke. "Is it okay if she stays here?"

Luke shrugged his shoulders. "It's okay if she stays. I can put her to work if she gets bored."

"You'd let your almost ten year old daughter work?" asked Lorelai. "Are you crazy?"

"It'd only be to clean menus and refil l the salt and pepper shakers," said Luke. "I wouldn't make her take orders or clean tables."

Lorelai nodded feeling relieved. "Good, that's good." She gestured to the door. "I should get going. Don't wanna be late. I'll come get you when I get off work okay?" she said to Rory.

"Okay," agreed Rory. "Can we eat dinner here tonight?"

"Uh, I guess we can," said Lorelai. She hadn't thought that far ahead to dinner quite yet. "I'll see you in a few hours." And with that Lorelai was gone. She went to Doose's and got the items that she needed and took them home. "Really need to find a car," she muttered, when she got home with her bags of groceries. She hated having to walk all the way home with five bags of groceries. She unloaded her groceries and had just enough time to change into her clothes for work before leaving for the inn.

As soon as she got to the Independence Inn she found Mia at the front desk. Lorelai thought of Mia as a second mother. She had taken Lorelai in when she first arrived in town with four week old Rory. Mia had been the only one she had told about Luke being Rory's father. Lorelai had still attended the school her mother had put her in and worked as soon as she got out of school. Of course that had meant being away from Rory and Lorelai didn't like that at all. When she had gone to college two years later, Lorelai had stayed in Stars Hollow just to be near Rory. She had gotten lucky with her daughter. Rory never went through the terrible two's stage. Oh, she'd throw temper tantrums when she didn't get her way but she had been the sweetest child from birth. Thinking back on the early days when Lorelai had first moved here made Lorelai sad. She missed Rory being a baby some days and she would wish that she had found Luke as soon as she had gotten to town. She hated that he had missed so much of Rory's life. Rory's first word had been 'DaDa' but Lorelai had known that was always a baby's first words mainly because the 'D' sound was so much easier to say then an 'M' sound.

"Good morning, Lorelai," greeted Mia, when Lorelai walked up to the desk.

"Hi, Mia."

"Did you and Rory get settled at the new house? I missed seeing you two first thing this morning."

"We've unpacked everything and I went and got groceries this morning," answered Lorelai. "I found Luke the day we moved to the house. He owns that diner in town."

"Oh, that's right!" said Mia. "I don't know why I didn't mention it a few months ago when it first opened. It actually used to be a hardware store, but I had heard that it was turned into a diner."

Lorelai looked at her boss. "How long have you known Luke?"

"I've known him for years. Why?"

"I was just thinking about how I first arrived in town. I actually came to find Luke but I never found him until Saturday. If you've known him since he was a kid, then I could have found him sooner." Lorelai broke down in tears. She hated that she never tried harder to find Luke that first year she had been there and she couldn't get those years back.

Mia wrapped her arms around Lorelai. "Lorelai, I've known Luke's family for years. When you and Rory first arrived and you told me your story, I went to see Kelly. I told her how you and Rory had shown up and she said she didn't want you coming around them and ruining Luke's life. Her words, not mine. I told her she would regret that choice and I said that she'd never get to know her granddaughter if she wouldn't let you and Luke get back together and be a family. When I told her that, she said she didn't want to see or speak to me anymore and not to tell Luke." She hugged Lorelai closer. "I am so sorry. If Kelly hadn't said that, I would have gotten Luke to come here to see you and Rory. It makes me sad to know he missed out on so much of her life."

Lorelai nodded and wiped away her tears. "Thanks for telling me that. That makes me feel better. At least a little. I wish he could have been around the day Rory had said 'Dada'. He would have been so proud."

Mia smiled thinking back on that day. "Oh, I remember that day. She was what, ten months old?"

Lorelai smiled at the thought. "Yes, she was ten months old. I was so proud when she said her first word."

"We all were," said Mia. For a moment they were quiet. "Oh, your mother called. She wants you to call her back. You really need to talk to her more."

Lorelai grimaced at the thought of her mother. "You didn't tell her I had moved did you?"

"No of course not," answered Mia. "I thought you could tell her yourself. Where's Rory by the way?"

"She's spending the day with Luke," said Lorelai.

"That's good, they need to get to know each other," agreed Mia. She picked up the phone and handed it to Lorelai. "Now, call your mother. You can go into my office for some privacy."

Lorelai took the phone and walked to Mia's office. She dialed the familiar number of her parent's house. She knew her mother would be home. She was always home, unless she was getting her hair done or at the DAR with the girls.

"Hello?" said Emily, after the first ring.

"Hi, Mom," said Lorelai. "I got the message that you called."

"Oh, yes," said Emily. "Where were you at? You're always there at that motel."

"It's an inn, Mom. And I had to go get some groceries for..." Lorelai trailed off.

"For what?"

"Well, Rory and I moved into a house, Mom. I needed to stock up on groceries. We actually just moved Saturday and we've been busy getting settled."

"At least you found a house to live in instead of that horrible potting shed. Now, I want to talk to you about Christopher."

"What about him, Mom?" said Lorelai trying not to sound rude.

"He's in town and I've invited him and his parents over for dinner this Friday. I know he'd love to see you and Rory," said Emily.

"I don't know," began Lorelai.

"Lorelai, don't make excuses. The man is in love with you. He told me that he was planning on proposing to you before you broke up with him. He comes from a good family and he apparently thinks of Rory as his own daughter. What more could you want?"

Lorelai sighed. There it was again. Her own mother telling her that Chris had been in love with her. "Mom, I don't love him. He pretended that Rory was his daughter when he took her somewhere and when Rory told me that I got angry at him. Plus I don't need him in mine and Rory's life right now. I bet you didn't know that he cheated on me too, huh? Well he did. And when I accused him of cheating he denied it. Besides, I found Luke on Saturday. It took me almost ten years, but I've found him and he and Rory are getting to know each other."

Emily was silent for a minute. She had never known that about Christopher. She hated that she and her daughter had such a horrible relationship and it was all her fault. If she had helped Lorelai find Luke so many years ago she and Lorelai might have had a better relationship. All they did was fight. "You found Luke?" she finally asked.

"Yes, Mother, I did. And he's the one for me, I know that. I can't really start dating him right now because he just got out of a relationship but he wants to be a family with me and Rory."

"You can invite Luke to dinner on Friday night if that will make you feel more comfortable," said Emily.

"Thank you, Mom."

"You're welcome. We'll see you Friday at seven."

Lorelai got off the phone and went to work. She just knew that it was going to be a long week. She already dreaded Friday night but she was glad that her mother was going to let her bring Luke. She just hoped Christopher wouldn't cause any trouble.


	9. Chapter 9

Luke watched as Rory refilled the salt and pepper shakers for him later that afternoon when the diner was empty. He was cleaning tables getting ready for the dinner crowd. He had to admit Rory was well behaved. He had only spent a couple days with his daughter and already he was proud of her. He wished he could have been around to see her first smile, hear her first word, her first sentence, all her firsts. He knew he hadn't had a choice in that. Well, he did, but his parents hadn't listened to him when he had said he wanted to stay with Lorelai and marry her. That would have been the right thing to do, at least according to him.

He watched as Rory concentrated on refilling the salt and pepper shakers and putting more packets of sugar in the little bins on the counter and tables. She looked exactly like Lorelai when you first looked at her. But as he studied her some more he started seeing himself in her features. She had his nose, that was for sure. And definitely his eyes. Or were they Lorelai's eyes? It was hard to tell because both he and Lorelai had blue eyes. Oh well, either way she had blue eyes like him. But the way she scrunched up her nose when concentrating really hard? She got that from him. And her uncanny ability to block anything happening around her? Also from him. Yes, if he looked really hard he could see himself in his own daughter. He wished that he could marry Lorelai right now and start having more children with her. Of course, he knew he should wait a few days before asking her out. He already knew where he wanted to take Lorelai on their first date. He even decided that Rory should tag along. He was going to take them to his favorite restauarant: Sniffy's. It was owned by his parent's friends Maisy and Buddy and they were like second parents to him. They even knew how badly he had been wanting to find Lorelai for so many years. When he had first mentioned it to them ten years ago, both Maisy and Buddy had been sympathetic. Afterward Maisy and Buddy had talked to Will and Kelly and tried to convince them that they needed to help their son find Lorelai. It hadn't worked though and he spent years searching for the girl he loved more than anything and his child.

Rory could feel her dad watching and looked up, giving him a smile. "Whatcha doin'?" she asked him.

"Uh, watching you." He hesitated. "Not in a creepy way. I just noticed that we have some similarities."

"Like what?" asked Rory, interested. For years she had known that she looked like her mother. Everyone told herself. But at night when she was alone she always wondered about her father and if she looked anything like him. Now that she had found her father she wanted to get to know him better.

Luke cleared his throat. "Well, we, uh, have the same eyes," he began. "And the way you scrunch up your nose when you're concentrating really hard? I did that too. And the way you block everything that's happening around you? I also do that."

Rory took in everything he said. It was good to know she and Luke had some similarities. She had been a little worried that she had inherited nothing from her father. But hearing what he had just said she felt reassured. "I'm glad I found you," she told him.

"I'm glad I found you, too," he agreed.

Rory looked up at him. "Are you and Mom going to go out?" she asked. "I really want us to be a family. And I really want a little sister please. Though a brother would be okay too. But I really want a little sister."

Luke hesitated. For an almost ten year old she didn't mind voicing her opinions. "I would like to take your Mom out," he admitted. "If it's okay with you."

"Of course it is!" cried Rory. "You're my dad! You and Mom are meant to be together!"

"Well then I guess I'll take your mother out to dinner soon," said Luke.

Rory opened her mouth to say something but Lorelai walked in. She sat down next to Rory and stared at Luke. "I need coffee. Now," she added. "Rory, my love, my favorite daughter, how much do you love me?"

"I'm your only daughter," teased Rory.

"That you know of," joked Lorelai. "Seriously how much do you love me?"

"Um, why?" asked the nine year old curiously.

"Because I need you to get sick so we don't have to go to dinner at my parents' on Friday."

"Uh, no. I like Grandma and Grandpa, remember?" Rory reminded her mother.

Luke gave Lorelai her coffee. "Why do you not wanna go to your parent's house? I thought you got along with them."

"That was before I got pregnant and everything went bad. I left that house when Rory was still a newborn. My mother had promised me that she would help me find you after Rory was born. It never happened. We started fighting and she got a nanny to take care of Rory and I snapped. I left and came here. Now I found you and I'm happy and I don't wanna go because Christopher will be there and I hate him," ranted Lorelai.

"Wait, Christopher is going to be there?" asked Rory.

"Yeah, he is. Oh and Luke you're invited too."

"What?" asked Luke. "I don't think that's a good idea. I haven't seen your parents in ten years. They probably still hate me."

"They don't hate you. They just didn't like the timing everything. I'm the one they hate," said Lorelai. "I ruined their plan for me."

"You still went to college though," Luke reminded her.

"No, I mean yes, I did, but not everything went according to plan," said Lorelai. "Can we change subjects please?"

"What do you and Rory want for supper?" Luke asked, changing the subject like she asked.

"Um, a cheeseburger please. With fries," answered Lorelai.

"I want the same too," said Rory. "With a Coke."

A few minutes later the two of them were eating. Rory wanted to find out more about Luke so she started asking questions. "Mom?" she began. "Does Dad have any sisters or brothers?"

"Yeah, he has a sister. Her name is Liz. Why?" asked Lorelai wanting to know what was going on.

"Do I have any cousins?" Rory asked eating a fry.

"Uh, what's with all the questions about your dad missy?" asked Lorelai.

"I just want to know more about him that's all."

"Well, ask him yourself," said Lorelai. "Hey Luke, does Liz have any kids?"

Luke came over to refill their drinks. "Yeah, his name is Jess. He's about Rory's age. Why? What's going on?"

Lorelai gestured to Rory. "Your daughter here wants to know more about you."

"Hmm she was doing that earlier. She told me she wants a baby sister," said Luke. Since everyone else in the diner had their food Luke sat down with Lorelai and Rory.

Lorelai looked at her daughter. "You want a baby sister?" she asked Rory. "Since when?"

"Since forever," Rory answered. "I've been wanting you and Dad to get married too. So when can you two get married?"

Lorelai choked on her coffee. "Rory! We haven't even gone out yet!"

"But you and Dad used to go out," Rory pointed out.

"Yes," agreed Luke. "Ten years ago. We have to get to know each other again. And I wanna get to know you better. Spend time with you, do things with you."

"Okay," said Rory giving in. She just hoped that they didn't date too long. She wanted to be a family and have her dad around more after not having him in her life for so long.

Luke pointed at the counter behind them. "I gotta get back to work."

Lorelai nodded and watched as he retreated to the store room but she saw him gesture for her to follow him. "I'll be right back," she told Rory getting up and heading to the back. "You gestured?" she said when she found Luke.

Luke came closer to her. "What are you doing tomorrow night?" he asked her.

"Umm, nothing. Why?"

"I want to take you out."

"Really?" she asked interested. "Where to?"

"It'll be a surprise," said Luke.

"Then yeah, I'm free." Lorelai smiled at him, extremely happy. "You don't need time to...?"

Luke shook his head. "No, no time at all. I want to start dating you and getting to know you again. So seven?"

"Sounds like a date," she agreed. "Oh shoot, I'll need a sitter for Rory. Maybe Sookie can babysit."

"Or we can bring Rory with us," suggested Luke. "Or not," he added when he saw the shocked expression on Lorelai's face.

"No, that'd be weird. Our daughter chaperoning our first date? I don't think so," said Lorelai.

"You're right that would be weird," he agreed. "So I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Yes you will," said Lorelai. "I better get back to Rory and head home. It's been a long day."

"Right," he agreed. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yep," she agreed. She walked back out to Rory. "You ready to head home?" she asked her daughter.

"Yeah, I'll just say bye to Dad first," said Rory. After saying goodbye the two of them started for home. "What'd you and Dad talk about?"

"Hmm nothing," said Lorelai, smiling.

"Would nothing happen to be a first date?"

"It just might," said Lorelai excitedly.

"Where's he taking you?" asked Rory.

"What is this? Twenty questions? He said it's a surprise. And Sookie is going to be babysit you tomorrow night," said Lorelai as they walked through the front door.

"It's tomorrow night?" asked Rory heading for her room.

"Yeah. I can't wait. Movie?" asked Lorelai as she headed upstairs to change into her pajamas.

"How about _Willy Wonka_? We haven't seen it in a while. Oh and _The Way We Were_," called out Rory from the living room as she picked out the movies.

"Absolutely. I'll get the food. You get the movies set up," said Lorelai coming down.

Later after Rory had gone to bed Lorelai couldn't help but think that everything was going well in her life. Sure it had taken ten years to find Luke her first and only love. But now that he was back in her life she wasn't letting go of him.


	10. Chapter 10

Lorelai was working the next day. She was at the front desk going over the calendar for that month seeing what was booked and what the inn had coming up. She was now the executive manager at the Independence Inn. Mia kept telling her that one day soon she would be the manager, running the inn and hiring people and firing people. Lorelai had to admit that the job sounded amazing. Plus it paid a little bit more. Now that she had a house she was saving to buy a car. She and Rory always got a paper and they would spend hours going over the cars that were for sell trying to find one that was affordable but ran perfectly. Rory said she wanted a Jeep Wrangler. She said that for just the two of them the size was perfect and Lorelai had to agree. Plus Jeeps were cute cars.

After looking over that months calendar (they had three weddings that month) Lorelai looked at the time and groaned. It was only two o'clock. Her date with Luke wasn't until seven. Mia looked over at Lorelai. "Are you okay?"

Lorelai smiled. "No. I want the day to hurry up and be over with." She paused considering her next words. "Luke and I are going out tonight."

"I guess you're excited about it."

"Yeah, I am. But I'm also nervous. I shouldn't be because Luke is my best friend and I love him. But it's been over ten years since I've seen him, let alone been out on a date with him. What if he realizes that I'm not the one for him?"

"That's not going to happen," Mia told her. "I'm sure Luke loves you very much and now that you two have found each other he won't be letting you go so easily."

"You're probably right," said Lorelai after a moment of silence.

"I'm always right," teased Mia.

That evening Luke picked Lorelai up right on time. He smiled when she opened the door. "You look nice," he commented.

Lorelai blushed. "Thanks." She grabbed her purse and keys and locked the door. "Should we get going?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, leading her to his truck. "So where's Rory tonight?" He opened the passenger door to let Lorelai in and then walked around and climbed into the truck starting the engine.

"She's staying with Sookie tonight. Apparently Sookie thought we should have the house to ourselves tonight."

"Ah."

Lorelai looked out her window as they headed out of Stars Hollow. "Where are we going?"

Luke shook his head. "Sorry, it's a surprise." He smirked at her.

"But I hate surprises!" she gasped. She had to admit she did hate surprises. When she had been pregnant she wanted to know what she was having, but Luke hadn't. But both of them had been forced apart by the time she found out she was having a girl. But then for the rest of her pregnancy she couldn't decide on a name. Not until she met her precious baby and just knew she was a Rory.

"I know." Luke flashed her a grin that made her heart do somersaults.

"Mean," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. Lorelai looked back out the window until they got to the restaurant. The sign said Sniffy's Tavern. "What is this?" she asked as they walked toward the door.

Luke shrugged his shoulders. He had debated on bringing Lorelai here or to an Italian restaurant. He had finally chosen Sniffy's not because it was his favorite but because he knew the owners very well and they knew all about Lorelai. "It's just a place I like to come to every now and then," he told her as he lead her to a booth in the back. The owner's Maisy and Buddy appeared and Luke introduced them to Lorelai.

After they left Lorelai turned to Luke. "Wow. They know you."

"Well I've known them most of my life. They're good friends of my parent's."

Lorelai nodded. That brought back memories of how close their parents had been until that fateful day they announced they were having a baby. "So, uh, what's good here?" she asked changing the subject.

"Just about everything," he replied.

During dinner they talked about what the two of them had been up to in the past ten years. Finally during dessert (Lorelai ate the dessert while Luke watched) the conversation turned to Rory. "So, uh, I wanna know more about Rory."

Lorelai swallowed the piece of cake she was eating and said, "Well, she's one smart kid. Seriously, that child gets straight As in everything. I don't know where she gets it from. And she's constantly reading a new book every few days. Which reminds me, I need to look for a bookshelf for her."

Luke nodded. "I can build her one, if you want me too."

"Really? That'd be nice. So more about Rory. Let's see...she was born early in the morning," began Lorelai launching into the story of Rory's birth. As she told Luke the story she had a flashback to that night in early October when she had her daughter.

_Lorelai was in her room watching TV. She had the house to herself that night. Her parent's had gone to some function or other that afternoon so Lorelai had spent the rest of the day doing homework. She was being tutored until after the baby was born. All afternoon she had felt funny but she brushed it aside until that night. As she ate a sandwich she felt a pain shoot across her abdomen and winced. A few minutes later she felt it again and this time she knew she was having contractions. As soon as she was able to she made it to the hospital. She didn't understand why they couldn't just go ahead and put her in a room right then. The contractions hurt and she needed something for the pain. _

_But the nurses wanted her to fill out the necessary paperwork before they could give her a room. A while later she was finally given a room and something to ease the pain. She needed Luke with her. He was supposed to be there holding her hand and coaching her through the painful contractions. But she was alone and scared. She asked for a phone book and checked the listings for Stars Hollow for a 'Danes' listing but she didn't find anything. That meant Luke's parent's hadn't listed there phone number. As another contraction came, more painful than the last, she desperately wished that Luke was with her. The doctor came in around 3:30 that morning and announced that she was finally ready to go to the delivery room. _

_As they wheeled her to the delivery room the contractions kept coming. "Okay, this is a big pain and I'd really like it to go away, please," she said through clenched teeth._

_"Just breathe deep, honey," answered the nurse._

_"Breathing doesn't help. Can I hit you instead?" she asked._

_"What?"_

_"Or pinch you really, really hard cause that might make me feel better." Lorelai was scared out of her mind. She had no idea what to do and really needed to focus on something to make the pain go away. _

_"No, you cannot hit me," said the nurse, kindly._

_"Lorelai Gilmore!" shouted Emily as she and Richard started following the nurse and Lorelai._

_"Wheel this thing a little faster please," begged Lorelai._

_"Lorelai, you do not do this. You just do not leave a person a note," continued Emily._

_"Okay, see the timing here?" she asked sarcastically._

_"'Dear Mom and Dad, I'm in labor. See you later, Lorelai,'" said Emily reading the note Lorelai had left her parents hours earlier._

_"Ow," whimpered Lorelai as another contraction hit._

_"Emily, please, I feel ridiculous," Richard cut in._

_Emily continued on with her rant. "You do not leave your house when you are having a baby without telling your mother. You say, 'Excuse me, Mom, I'm having a baby give me a ride to the damn hospital!'"_

_"Emily, please, I wore the wrong shoes for this," Richard begged._

_"Of all the things I had a right to do, driving my daughter to the hospital to give birth is one of them."_

_"Ma'am I need you to wait out here please," said the nurse before they headed to the delivery room. _

_"Why?" demanded Emily._

_"Because we're going into the delivery room."_

_"I want to go in."_

_"No, Mom, please," begged Lorelai. That was the last thing she wanted. She didn't want her mother in there with her. She really wanted Luke but she didn't know where to find him or how._

_"Yes, Emily, please," said Richard, agreeing with his daughter._

_"Fine, we'll be here when you're done," said Emily._

_"Super," said Lorelai as she was wheeled into the room. It didn't take long for her to give birth and at 4:03 in the morning on October eighth the doctor announced that it was a girl. After the baby was cleaned up and wrapped in a blanket with a hat on her head Lorelai got to hold her daugther. "Hi, baby, I'm your mommy," she said as tears spilled down her cheeks. Now she finally had a name for her baby girl. "You're gonna be Lorelai Leigh Danes. That's right, I'm giving you your father's last name. But I guess until your Daddy and I find each other again you'll be known as Rory Gilmore." She brought the baby closer and snuggled with her. "I love you, Rory. You're perfect."_

"Wow, I feel bad that I missed all that," said Luke, once Lorelai was done with her story. "So Rory has my last name?"

Lorelai nodded. "She does. It just fel right when I named her. I looked at her face and I saw you and there was no denying that she was a Danes. Of course my parent's don't that I gave her your last name. And Rory doesn't know either. But it's there on her birth certificate."

Luke didn't know what to say to that. He was glad that Lorelai had given Rory his last name even if they were the only ones that knew. "How old was Rory when you left your parents?" he asked, wanting to know more.

"She was four weeks old," she told him. "She was still so tiny then. I had packed all our stuff up the night before and left when my parents had left the house."

_Lorelai stared down into the crib of her sleeping baby. Rory was now four weeks old and even though she was still tiny but she was a little longer now. "Tomorrow, little one, we'll be out of here," she whispered. "As soon as Grandma and Grandpa are out of the house, we are gone. I'm going to find your daddy no matter what." She covered the sleeping baby up with her blanket and then Lorelai crawled into bed. _

_The next morning after having breakfast with her parents and feeding and changing Rory, Lorelai took a shower and got dressed. Rory was asleep in her car seat ready to go as soon as Emily left for the DAR. Lorelai bounded down the stairs to grab some extra bottles and the diaper bag._

_"Where are you going in such a hurry?" demanded Emily._

_Lorelai hesitated. "I'm going to the mall. I thought I'd get a jump start on my Christmas shopping. After all, it's Rory's first Christmas. I thought getting her some clothes would be nice."_

_Emily pursed her lips not sure if she believed her daughter or not. Finally she nodded her head. "That's a good idea. Here's some money if you need more. I'll be back around three and your father should be home around five-thirty. And if you get hungry you'll just have to fix the food yourself. The maid was fired last night." Emily left some money on the hall table as she left._

_As soon as the coast was clear, Lorelai grabbed what she needed and went to get Rory. "Okay, little one, we're out of here." Lorelai grabbed her bags and the car seat with the sleeping baby in it. When she got downstairs she realized she would need the stroller too. She left a note for her parents on the table and made it to the bus stop. Forty-five minutes later a tired Lorelai was finally in Stars Hollow. She made her way off the bus but once on the sidewalk she had no clue where to go. She looked up and down the street and then she saw a shop that said it was Weston's Bakery. She decided to go there first to get something to eat and a cup of coffee. And it would be a good time to feed Rory a bottle. She went inside and found an elderly woman behind the counter._

_"Hello, dear, how may I help you?" said the woman._

_Lorelai bit her lip. "Uh, I think I'll just have some coffee and a piece of pie if that's okay."_

_"That's fine." The woman took in the sight of Lorelai and the baby. She brought the coffee and pie over to the young girl. "I"m Fran. I own this place."_

_"I"m Lorelai. And this is my daughter Rory," said Lorelai, gesturing to the baby that was now wide awake. She knew she shouldn't talk to anyone she didn't know but Fran seemed so nice. "Do you know of any place that's hiring? I need a job."_

_"Oh, did you leave your parent's house?" asked Fran. She looked at the baby. "She's such an adorable baby."_

_"Thank you. And yes I did run away. But I'm only here looking for Rory's father. He and his family moved here a few months ago."_

_"Well, this is a small town, maybe I could be of some help. But as to your question about a job, there is an inn that's hiring or there's a hardware store just down the street."_

_Lorelai nodded. "Thanks. I think I'll check out the inn first. Thanks for the pie and coffee." Lorelai pulled out some money and was about to hand it to Fran._

_"No, dear, it's on me. Save your money to take care of that precious baby of yours."_

_Lorelai left the bakery following the directions that Fran had given her to the inn. She saw the hardware store at the other end of the street and glanced at the sign. It said 'William's Hardware' but Lorelai doubted that would be Luke's father. After all William was a pretty common name. She hurried on to the inn. When she got there she asked for the owner. _

_"Hello," said a voice behind her. "I"m Mia Holloway. I'm the owner of the Independence Inn."_

_Lorelai faced the woman. "Uh, hi. I'm Lorelai. And I need a job. I don't care what job, I just need a job. I can work Saturday's and Sunday's and after school Monday through Friday." Lorelai looked down at the floor. "I just can't go home. Not right now."_

_Mia studied the young girl. She couldn't be more than sixteen and she had a newborn baby too. "Well, I can give you a job working as a maid. And you're in luck. A position just became available. Why don't we go into my office and you can fill out the paperwork?"_

_Lorelai nodded and followed Mia to her office. "How old are you?" asked Mia once they had sat down._

_"I'm sixteen, I'll be seventeen at the end of April. And this is Rory. She's four weeks old."_

_Mia nodded her head. "Why can't you go home?" She handed Lorelai a clipboard with the necessary paperwork._

_"Because Rory and I need to be on our own. And I also need to find her father." Lorelai looked over at her baby daughter. _

_"Who's her father?"_

_Lorelai doubted Mia would know who Luke was since he had just moved here a few months ago. "Luke Danes. I doubt you know him. He and his family moved here a few months ago." Rory started whimpering and she grabbed Rory and started feeding her a bottle._

_Mia sucked in a breath. She couldn't believe it. She had just met Luke Danes' girlfriend and daughter. She was good friends with Will and Kelly and she knew all about it. "Actually, dear, I do know Luke and his family. And I'd be willing to help you get reunited with Luke."_

_Lorelai smiled. "Really? I would appreciate that. Rory needs her father. I'd hate for Luke to miss out on so much of her life."_

Lorelai finished telling Luke everything she could about Rory's life on the way back to her house. "Do you want to come in?" she asked him as she unlocked the door.

"Sure." He followed her into the house and into the kitchen.

Lorelai opened the refrigerator. "Let's see, I've got water and beer and apple juice and orange juice. Man, Rory's a health nut."

Luke smiled. "Must get that from me."

"She must." She pulled out a bottle of water and handed one to Luke. Lorelai was nervous. It had been ten years since she had been with Luke and she wasn't sure what to do. She took a tentative step forward closing the distance between them.

Luke swallowed hard. He watched as Lorelai moved closer to him. He could smell her perfume and her shampoo. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous. It was only Lorelai. The girl of his dreams. The mother of his daughter and the woman he loved. Finally he couldn't take it anymore. He pulled Lorelai against him and kissed her. It was a kiss filled with longing and passion and as they made their way upstairs he knew she was the one he had to be with. Later in bed curled up next to Lorelai Luke promised himself that he was never letting Lorelai go again. Now that he found her and she was back in his life it was going to stay that way. He already knew he wanted to marry her, but he knew he would have to wait a few months before asking Lorelai to marry him. He fell asleep knowing that he was a lucky guy to have two beautiful girls in his life.


	11. Chapter 11

Friday afternoon Mia watched as Rory and her best friend Lane Kim walked around the inn. Who knew what they were up to? Mia couldn't believe how fast Rory was growing up and soon she would be ten. Mia couldn't help but think back on that cold November day when sixteen year old Lorelai Gilmore walked in with a four week old baby demanding a job. Mia of course hired Lorelai right away and gave her the old potting shed in the back to live in. She even remembered how surprise she had been to find out that she had just hired Luke Danes' girlfriend. After she had found out, she had gone straight to Kelly. Mia had wanted Luke to come with her to the inn to see Lorelai and the baby. She still remembered what happened like it was yesterday.

_Mia rang the doorbell to Will and Kelly Danes' house. She was glad that Kelly answered the door. She wasn't sure what she would have done if Luke or Liz had answered it. "Kelly."_

_"Mia, this is a surprise. Come on in. It's cold out there," said Kelly, leading Mia to the kitchen. "What brings you here?"_

_"It's about Luke," began Mia._

_"What about him?"_

_"I just hired his girlfriend to work at the inn." _

_Kelly stared at her friend. "Ha! That's a good one. I doubt Rachel would ever work at the inn."_

_Mia shook her head. "No, I mean Lorelai. She is still Luke's girlfriend. It doesn't matter if they're a thousand miles apart or just a few miles down the road, they're still together. And Lorelai had a baby with her."_

_Kelly shook her head. She couldn't believe it. Lorelai Gilmore had come to their town to find Luke. Well Luke had moved on. "That's impossible."_

_"Is it really? She came from Hartford. Actually she ran away from her parent's house because she said she needed to find Luke," said Mia. "Kelly, you can't really keep Luke away from her. Besides he needs to get to know his baby."_

_Kelly stood up angry. "No! Luke is not going anywhere near that girl ever again. She ruined his life by getting pregnant with that thing and now she's decided to keep it? Emily said they had convinced her to give the baby up. Apparently they hadn't if she still has it."_

_Now Mia was angry. "Kelly, that's your granddaughter you're talking about! And Lorelai has done nothing wrong. Now I want Luke to meet his daughter and be a part of that child's life."_

_"Well I'm not letting him. He has a girlfriend. I'm sure you remember Rachel?" Kelly crossed her arms. "I think you should go. And don't ever speak about that girl or that child ever again."_

_Mia left the house feeling terrible. She didn't know what kind of person Kelly had become but apparently she wasn't the same anymore._

Yes, Mia still remembered that conversation like it was yesterday. After that her friendship with Kelly had dissolved and they hardly spoke to each other now. She hated what had happened between them but that's the way things go.

Lorelai walked up to the desk. "What are you thinking about?" she asked Mia.

"I was just remembering the day I told Kelly I had hired you," replied Mia.

"Ah, yes, I've been doing a lot of remembering lately, too. Like the morning Rory was born and when I left my parent's house."

"Really? Why those memories?"

Lorelai shrugged. "Luke asked about when Rory was born and how old she was when I came here."

"Oh yes, how was the date?" asked Mia.

Lorelai smiled. "It was really good. It was like we picked up where we had left off. It was like a few days had gone by instead of ten years. He also asked about Rory. I told him everything up until now." Lorelai looked over at her daughter and smiled. "No one else but me and Luke know this but when Rory was born I gave her Luke's last name."

Mia was surprised by that. "I didn't know that. What made you decide that?"

"When I looked into that face I saw Luke. It was like having him there with me that morning. She looks so much like Luke. It hurt but knowing that I'd find him made it easier."

"That makes sense. So your parent's don't know this?"

"No, of course not. It was just a secret I kept. It's on her birth certificate and now Luke knows. Rory doesn't even know."

Rory had walked over then. She had heard the last part of her mother's sentence. "What don't I know?"

"Rory," said Lorelai surprised. She looked at Mia who gave her a look that said, _Go ahead and tell her. _"Hon, why don't we take a walk? We can go get something to eat if you want."

"Okay," agreed Rory. They made their way outside walking toward town. "So what don't I know?"

"Well, it's about you," began Lorelai. "See, the day you were born, I named you after myself."

Rory rolled her eyes. "I've known that for years, Mom."

"Oh, right,. Well, your last name isn't Gilmore. You do go by Gilmore but I gave you your dad's last name. So technically, you're Rory Danes, not Rory Gilmore."

Rory got angry. All these years she had gone by Rory Gilmore and now her mother tells her that her last name is actually Danes? "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It just didn't seem like a big deal," admitted Lorelai. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"Do Grandma and Grandpa know my real last name?" asked Rory angrily.

"No, no one but me knew. And now your dad knows."

"Dad knows?"

Lorelai nodded her head. "Look, don't get all defensive on me. I was protecting you, okay? Besides with this small town someone would have figured it out long before now and would have told your dad."

"I thought you wanted to find Dad before now!" said Rory.

"I did! But I didn't want Miss Patty or Babette finding out and risk the chance of them telling your Dad!" shouted Lorelai.

"Well it would have you helped you find Dad sooner!" Rory shot back. Rory was too angry with her mother to talk to her so she ran towards home.

Lorelai sighed as she watched her daughter run off. Maybe Rory was right. If she had let her daughter go by Luke's last name then maybe she and Luke would have gotten together sooner. But she hadn't wanted to risk the chance of Miss Patty or Babette finding out and telling Luke about his daughter. She decided she should give Rory some space to calm down and headed back to the inn.

At home later that evening Rory still wouldn't talk to Lorelai and when Luke picked them up to go to her parent's house Rory wouldn't even speak to him. Half an hour later standing in front of the Gilmore mansion Lorelai looked at Rory. "Look, I know you're still angry at me from this afternoon, but please at least be civil towards your grandparents."

"Fine," said Rory.

Lorelai rang the doorbell and the maid answered the door leading them in to the living room. "Hello Mom, Dad," greeted Lorelai. Lorelai looked around the room and spotted Christopher sitting in one of the armchairs.

"Lorelai, it's so good to see you," said Emily. "Rory, you're getting taller. Hello Luke."

"Hello, Mrs. Gilmore," said Luke, a little nervous.

Rory didn't say anything. She sat down on the couch and Lorelai and Luke sat down on either side of her. Lorelai looked at her mother. "So, Mom, how are things?" she asked.

"Good, how's that hotel of yours?"

"You mean the _inn_? Things are fine at the inn." Lorelai noticed Christopher staring at her.

"Lor, it's good to see you again," he said.

Lorelai glared at him. "Oh, really? Cause I'm not so happy to see you. I mean, you lied to me and you cheated on me."

"I didn't lie to you," said Chris.

"Uh, yeah, you did. You told people that you were my kid's father and when I asked you about it you said that you weren't. That sounds like a lie to me."

"Okay, so I told people I was Rory's father! So what? We do look alike and people just assumed I was the father. Jeez."

"No, that's not okay. Rory has a father. And that's Luke," said Lorelai.

"Where has he been the past ten years then?" demanded Christopher.

Richard had had enough of the fight between the two of them. "That's enough. Christopher please control your temper. Lorelai chose Luke a long time ago and I'd like it if we could all just have a nice dinner."

After that dinner was at least civil. Rory warmed up to her grandparent's and her father. But she was still mad at her mother and she hated Christopher. Chris didn't argue any more about the fact that Luke had missed out on so much. Emily asked Luke how is family was and what he did. She had to admit that she was glad Luke was back in Lorelai's life. Rory desperately needed her father.

The ride back to Stars Hollow was just as silent as the ride to Hartford. Halfway home Rory looked at her mother. "Mom, I'm sorry I got mad at you," she said.

Lorelai smiled. "Aw, kid, I'm the one who should be apologizing. After all I kept such a big secret from you for so long. That wasn't fair."

When they got home, Rory asked Luke to tuck her in. "Aren't you a little old for that?" he asked when he entered her room after she changed into her pajamas.

"Well, yeah, but you weren't around when I was younger," said Rory sadly. "Mom tried so hard to fill in that role."

Luke pulled the blankets up around Rory and kissed her forehead. "I hate that I wasn't around. But now that I am, I'm not letting you and your Mom go so easily."

"Good, cause I've missed you." Rory was silent for a moment. "Are you and Mom gonna get married."

"I hope so. Right now I just want to enjoy spending time with the two of you." Luke hugged his daughter. "Good night."

Rory yawned and closed her eyes. "Good night Daddy."

Luke turned the light off as he left and shut her door. "You wanna explain why Rory felt the need to apologize to you?" he asked Lorelai.

Lorelai finished making a pot of coffee and sat down at the table. "Rory overheard me and Mia talking. I figured since you now know that Rory has your last name that it's time everyone else did too. Well not everyone. Just Mia, and Sookie and my parents. And now Rory knows. She got mad when I told her. She told me that if I had let everyone know her real last name we would have found you sooner." Lorelai sighed and laid her head on her arms. "Maybe she's right. We could have been a family years ago if I hadn't let people think Rory's last name was Gilmore."

Luke reached for her hand. "Hey, don't feel bad. I know you were just doing the right thing. And you're probably right. If everyone in town realized years ago that Rory's my daughter they would have told me."

"That's what I told her. I wanted to be the one to find you and tell you," she said. "I'm a bad mother."

"You are not a bad mother. You were doing the right thing." Luke pulled Lorelai into a hug. "Look, I know you wish we'd found each other years ago so we could have been the family we were supposed to be, but I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere. I love you." He didn't mean to say those three words but once he had he knew they were true. He loved Lorelai Gilmore. He always had. Even after they had been separated he never once gave up hope of finding Lorelai.

Lorelai looked up at him. "I love you too, Luke," she whispered. "I always have and always will." She bit her lip and considered asking him something. Finally she went and ahead and asked. "Can you stay?"

Luke shook his head sadly. He wanted to stay. He wanted to stay there and hold Lorelai all night long and be there when she woke up. He wanted to be able to make breakfast for his girls in her kitchen and be like the family he dreamed they could have been. "I wish I could but I've got early deliveries in the morning," he said sadly. But then he thought of his dad. Some days his dad would take care of the early deliveries to let Luke sleep in a little bit.

Lorelai nodded and stepped back crossing her arms. "That's fine," she said. "I know you need to be there."

Luke hung his head. "How about this? I'll make it up to you tomorrow night. You, me, and Rory can go out to eat together. I'll stay the night and cook you and Rory breakfast Sunday morning."

"That sounds like a good idea," agreed Lorelai. She leaned in and kissed him one last time. "You go on and get some sleep. Rory and I will be in for breakfast." They kissed one last time and then Luke left. Lorelai had always dreamed of being a family with Luke and now her dreams were finally coming true. Her mother accepted the fact that she and Luke were together again. Lorelai just hoped that soon Luke's mother would finally feel the same way again.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Okay since I'm busy updating stories and writing a 10 page research paper I'm focusing on the paper and this story for right now. Hope ya like this next chapter! Read and review. **

Over the next few weeks Lorelai and Luke were getting closer and Luke was getting to know Rory better. Things were going well for Lorelai and Luke. His mother was finally accepting the fact that Lorelai was back in her son's life and she was getting to know her granddaughter. William had no trouble welcoming Lorelai back and getting to know Rory. In fact, Rory seemed to get along better with Will. And Will and Kelly had rekindled their friendship with Emily and Richard which seemed to help. Luke and Lorelai were getting serious. Most of the time he would stay at her house but when he had early deliveries that meant a night alone without Luke. And when Rory would spend the night with Lane on weekends and Luke had early deliveries Lorelai would stay at Luke's apartment above the diner. Things were going so well that they were now starting to talk about moving in together. In fact, Luke had already bought an engagement ring. Rory had helped him pick the ring out. The band was white gold with three diamonds and it even had a matching wedding band to go along with it. The three diamonds were square with the one in the middle slightly larger then the ones on either side of it. Rory had insisted that Lorelai would love it and Luke agreed. Now he just needed the perfect moment to ask her. He decided he would wait until Christmas Eve to propose. That was her favorite holiday and what better way to celebrate with an engagement. And Lorelai would be able to plan that summer wedding she had always dreamed of.

It was October first which meant exactly one week before Rory's tenth birthday. Lorelai had a huge party planned for her daughter's special day. She walked into the diner that afternoon for some lunch and sat down at the counter. "Okay, we need to decide what we're getting Rory. Her birthday's next week and she has nothing picked out!" she said.

Luke looked up. He grabbed a coffee cup and poured Lorelai some coffee. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"What do mean? Of course I'm sure! I've asked every day this week if there was anything she wanted for her birthday and she said she didn't care!"

"Okay, well how about a couple books? I think she mentioned to me the other day there were some books she's been wanting. I had her write them down for me cause there was no way I'd remember them."

Lorelai was speechless. Here she had been trying to get Rory to name something she wanted for her birthday and the whole time Luke knew? "Well at least she told one of us," she finally said. "Oh, I know! How about Wednesday we go to bookstore at the mall and get some of the books off that list? And if we see anything else she'd might like we can get that too."

"Don't you have to work Wednesday?"

"Nope, I've got the day off."

Luke thought about it for a minute. "Okay, we can go to the mall Wednesday. But there's one thing. I hate malls. They're way too big and there are always a million other people there at the mall shopping. And the parking? Even if you're lucky to find a parking space by the time you leave there are a million other cars making it impossible to get out of the stupid parking lot." Luke paused for a minute. "Sorry, and I will go with you. I missed her first nine birthdays and I want to find her a special birthday present."

Lorelai studied him. "Are you sure? Cause that rant made it sound like you hate malls."

"I'm sure. We'll leave after Rory goes to school. Wow, I can't believe next Saturday is her birthday."

"I know. It's gone by so quickly. One minute she was a newborn baby and now she's going to be ten years old. Man, I want another baby." Lorelai then realized what she'd said. "Not now of course! I meant later whenever we get married. I didn't mean I wanted a baby now!"

Luke patted her hand. "I know. And I've been doing some thinking about that. Your house is only two bedrooms. If we have more kids one day we're gonna need a bigger house. Maybe we could remodel your house or we could look into buying a new house. Of course we'll decide all this once we've decided we're ready for another kid."

Lorelai nodded. "I think buying a new house would probably be good. But you're right. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Wednesday morning Lorelai walked Rory to school. She hated not having a car but with the money she earned it was impossible. She had started a savings account at the bank and every time she got paid she'd put a little bit of her paycheck into savings. She already had the type of car picked out. She had decided on a Jeep Wrangler. She knew that whenever she and Luke had more kids the Wrangler wouldn't be the best car but she and Luke had talked about it and agreed that once she had the money she could get the Wrangler. They could always buy a third car for family outings and trips.

"So I heard you've been telling your Dad what you want for your birthday," commented Lorelai as they walked towards the school.

Rory blushed and looked down at the ground. "Sorry. But he asked and I thought he would have told you," she said.

Lorelai nodded and wrapped her arm around her daughter. "He did. We're going to the mall today to pick out your birthday present." Lorelai smiled. "Any your party is on Satuday. Are you excited?"

Rory nodded. "Yes!" she exclaimed. "And Lane can spend the night right? Mrs. Kim said it was okay for Lane to spend the night."

"Yes, that's fine. We have church Sunday morning. I'm sure Mrs. Kim approves of that."

"She does. And now that you and Dad are back together I think she likes you better. And maybe after you and Dad get married she'll like you even better," said Rory.

"After Dad and I get married?" questioned Lorelai. "Who said anything about us getting married?"

Rory hesitated. She already said too much. "Uh, you know, towns people think you and Dad are gonna get married soon."

"Ah." Lorelai gestured to the school. "You have a good day, okay? No getting in trouble, calling the teacher names."

"Mom," said Rory, rolling her eyes. "I don't do that."

Lorelai grinned. "I know. I love you, and I'll pick you up at three." Lorelai waved as her daughter trudged up the steps of the elementary school. Her baby was in fifth grade now. Next year it'd be middle and then high school and then college. Lorelai wrapped her arms around her stomack to ward off the feeling of lonliness that overcame her. She knew she and Luke would have more kids one day soon but still. Rory was her first child and trying to imagine her in college was impossible.

She headed over to the diner where Luke was waiting out front. "You ready?" he asked her. He noticed her expression. "What's wrong?"

Lorelai waved her hand in the air. "Nothing. Well...I uh, was just thinking about how fast Rory is growing up. Next year she'll be in middle school, and then high school and then she'll be moving to college. And it just made me realize that I need to enjoy all these moments with her."

"Yes, it is hard to believe. Especially since I've just gotten to know her these past few months." Luke lead her to the passenger side of his truck and she got in.

They had a good day at the mall. They got a couple of the books Rory had wanted and had even gotten her a locket as a little something extra. Saturday was the big day. Early that morning Lorelai made her way to her daughter's room. It was a tradition they started, well that Lorelai had started on Rory's first birthday. She would tell her daughter the story of the day she was born and they'd have a meaningful conversation.

"Hey birthday girl," whispered Lorelai crawling into bed next to Rory.

Rory stirred and opened her eyes slowly. "Hi, Mom."

"So, big day huh?"

Rory nodded. "Uh huh."

"You know, ten years ago today I was laying in exactly the same position," Lorelai began. She and Rory shared the story. Now that she was older Rory knew the whole story and could repeat the lines of the story. After finishing the story Lorelai looked over at her daughter. "So what's your favorite part of your birthday today?"

Rory thought for a minute. "I get to share it with Dad now. He's back in your life and he's in mine just like it should have been."

"Yes, that is a good thing." Lorelai glanced at Rory and saw that she had gone back to sleep. She kissed her forehead. "Sleep tight," she whispered.

That night the party was in full swing. Everyone in town had come and the house was packed. Lorelai's parent's had sent Rory some money with a note for Lorelai saying that she needed to start a college fund for Rory. Lorelai had no intention of starting a college fund for Rory. She needed the money to pay bills and save for that Jeep she wanted. The party was a hit. Every year Rory told her that she threw the best birthday parties and Lorelai had to agree. Maybe it was because that once she had graduated from college a few years ago she had been promoted to event planner. Now she was the executive manager after two years as a concierge. She was slowly making her way to the top.

Later, after the party Lorelai helped Rory and Lane set up the sleeping bags on the living room floor before going upstairs to get ready for bed. She could hear the conversation Rory and Lane were having from her room.

"Your mom throws the best birthday parties," said Lane. "Too bad my mom doesn't throw birthday parties like that."

"But your mom has the best intentions," said Rory. "You gotta admit that."

"True." For a minute Lane was silent. "So when do you think your dad is going to ask Lorelai to marry him?"

Lorelai's heart started beating faster. Luke was planning on proposing? Maybe she should get up and close her door so she wouldn't hear anymore. Yet at the same time she wanted to know.

"Dad says he plans to ask her on Christmas Eve. He says that's Mom's favorite holiday and what better way to celebrate Christmas then with my Mom and Dad engaged?"

"You sound sad. What's wrong?" asked Lane.

"I just wish Mom had found Dad right after she came here. They'd already be married and I'd have some brothers and sisters."

"So you really want a little brother or sister? I can't imagine being an older sister. I mean, I hide all my CD's and books and clothes in the floorboards of my room. I doubt I'd be a good sister if my parent's had had another kid."

Rory nodded. "Yeah, I really want a little brother or sister. I've always wanted one for as long as I can remember." Rory was quiet for a moment. "Do you wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure," agreed Lane.

Lorelai got up and closed the door as soon as she heard Rory start the movie. Was Luke really going to ask her to marry him? She knew what her answer would be. She had decided that a long time ago before everything got messed up. But they'd only just gotten back together after so many years apart. Would Luke have really bought an engagement ring after four months of dating? She wasn't sure. She wanted to call him and ask him but he was probably in bed by now. He had stayed for the entire party even helping her and Sookie clean up afterward. He had promised Rory that he'd come by early the next morning and make breakfast for them before church. Going to church was something Lorelai enjoyed. After a few months of going Lorelai finally joined the church along with Rory.

But still they'd only been dating for four months. Though if you counted the two years they had dated before Rory came along then a marriage proposal was probably the right thing. Lorelai crawled into bed and tried to read her book. After reading the same paragraph four times she snapped the book shut and laid on her bedside table. She needed to know if Luke was really thinking about proposing and wouldn't feel better until she knew.

The next morning she woke up to the smell of pancakes cooking. She got up and made her way downstairs. The girls were still passed out so Lorelai walked quietly into the kitchen. Luke looked up when he heard her enter. "Hey," he said quietly. "Breakfast should be ready soon and there's coffee." He smiled at her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I slept fine," she lied. She hadn't slept well at all. She had been up half the night worrying about if Luke was going to propose. She went to the cupboard and pulled down a coffee mug and poured a cup of coffee.

Luke looked at her. "You're lying. What's wrong?" He turned the stove off and sat down across from her.

_He knows me so well, _she thought. "Nothing, everything's fine," she said trying to smile.

"Everything is not fine."

Lorelai sighed battling with herself if she should ask him. She sighed and looked down at the table. "Fine. I kinda heard something last night that's been bothering me."

"What is it?"

Lorelai looked up at him. "Are you planning on proposing?"

Luke's heart skipped a beat. How could anyone in town know? The only person who knew was Rory. And then he realized something. "Rory told you?"

"What?" Lorelai shook her head. "No, I'm guessing Rory told Lane because Lane asked about it. I don't know."

Luke reached into his pocket where he kept the small velvet box containing the ring. "Yes, I am planning on proposing to you," he admitted. He swallowed. "I was gonna wait til Christmas Eve but-" He pulled the box out and set it between them on the table.

Lorelai reached for the box and opened it. When she saw the ring, she gasped. "Oh, it's beautiful!" she said. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes and blinked to hold them back.

Luke watched her. "So, I'm guessing that's a yes?" he asked.

Lorelai nodded and came around the table to hug him. "It's a yes!" she said a little too loudly. She heard the girls waking up in the next room. "Oops," she giggled. "So you planned on Christmas Eve, huh?"

Luke smiled and nodded. "Yeah, but now is good too," he said. "All I know is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"I feel the same way," she said kissing him. She pulled away when Rory and Lane. "Good morning!"

Rory rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Morning." She looked at her mother sitting next to her dad. "What's for breakfast?"

Luke cleared his throat. "Uh, pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. And for you and Lane, orange juice. You're still too young for coffee." Luke set the food on the table as Rory and Lane poured themselves some juice and sat down at the table.

Rory noticed her mother had an odd smile on her face. "What's going on?" she asked.

Lorelai looked at Luke as if to say _Should we tell her?_ and he nodded. "Well, your Dad and I are getting married."

Rory wasn't surprised by that. But then it dawned on her. Her dad was planning on proposing Christmas Eve so what happened? "Wait, I thought you were going to ask on Christmas Eve?"

"I know, but your mom heard you and Lane talking about it last night," said Luke.

Rory shot a look at Lane. Lane shrugged. "Sorry, Lorelai, we didn't think you'd hear us."

"Lane, it's fine," said Lorelai. "Besides if you count the two years we were together before Rory, it's about time for a wedding." She flashed Luke a grin.

After breakfast the four of them headed to church. Luckily no one noticed the ring on Lorelai's finger. Lorelai had to admit she had been worried about a proposal but now she was glad she and Luke were finally getting married. She knew what kind of wedding she wanted. She wanted to be married in June with all her friends and family in attendance to hear her and Luke promise each other forever. She couldn't wait to get started on wedding plans.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Well here it is another chapter. By the way it's my BIRTHDAY! So read and review please. Reviews would make me so happy!**

A few days after the engagement Lorelai and Luke were making plans. Luke agreed with a summer wedding. Plus it'd give them more time together and he knew that it was the kind of wedding she wanted. No one else knew about the engagement yet. They still needed to tell her parents first. They had already told Luke's parent's and they had been excited about the news especially his mother. Lorelai smiled as she thought about the day before when she and Luke had shown up unannounced.

Kelly had opened the door surprised to find them there. "Luke, Lorelai, this is a surprise. Come on in." She had lead them to the living room and offered them some tea. "Lorelai, that party you had for Rory was wonderful." She looked down at the floor. "I want to apologize for the way I've been acting these past few months. Deep down I know that you belong with Luke. It's just that the two of you were so young then."

Lorelai smiled gently at the woman. "It's fine. I know that you just wanted what's best for Luke." She smiled at Luke and patted his hand. "Now that I'm a mother I know how that is. I only want what's best for Rory. I don't want her making the same mistakes I did. Not that she was a mistake."

Kelly smiled. "No, I don't think Rory is a mistake either. Maybe if you two had been older when you had her everything would have gone as planned." She looked at the two of them. "But you two didn't come here to talk about that. So why are you here?

Luke cleared his throat. "Is Dad here? We actually have something to tell the both of you."

Kelly nodded and stood. "He's out back. Let me go get him." And she left the room. She came back a few minutes later with Will. Once the had sat down Luke spoke.

"Well, you know how I feel about Lorelai," he began nervously.

His parent's nodded. "It wouldn't surprise me if you went ahead and asked her to marry you," said his father.

Luke was taken aback. Not sure what to say, he continued, "Well I already have. We're going to get married in June."

"That's wonderful," said Kelly. After so many years she finally realized that Luke and Lorelai were meant to be together. She wasn't sure why she had been against their relationship after Lorelai had gotten pregnant. Back then she blamed it on Lorelai and had wanted nothing to do with her. Everyone else tried to tell her that it was just as much Luke's fault as it was Lorelai's. "You know, if you need any help planning the wedding Lorelai, I'd be happy to help."

Lorelai smiled. "Thank you, that means so much to me."

As the memory of the day before faded, Lorelai prayed that her parent's would feel the same way. After that first dinner with her parent's a few months earlier she wasn't sure how to tell them. She didn't get along with her mother or her father. She had been close to them until she got pregnant and everything went downhill. Sure she loved them and she knew they loved her but they didn't quite see eye to eye on many things. Luke had told her to call her parent's and tell them about the engagement before they told anyone else. Lorelai stared at the phone trying to make herself dial the number. Finally after twenty minutes of staring at her phone she picked it up and dialed her parents number. When the maid answered she asked for Emily Gilmore.

"Hello?" said Emily.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Hi, Mom." There she had answered.

"Lorelai, why are you calling?"

Lorelai swallowed. "Well, uh, I have something to tell you and Dad."

Emily sighed. She had a hair appointment and couldn't be late. "What is it Lorelai?" She went to Richard's study and told him to get on the other phone. "We're both here so what is it?"

"Well, Luke asked me to marry him and-" Lorelai took another deep breath to calm her frantic nerves. "And I said yes. We're getting married June third." There she had told her parent's and there was no going back. She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back into the couch. She realized that neither of her parent's had said anything. "Well? Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Thank you for telling," said Emily, in a hurry. "Now, I have a hair appointment and really must go." Emily hung up and left.

Richard stared after his wife in astonishment. "Lorelai, that's wonderful news. I always knew you and Luke would get married one day." Richard sighed. He hated the estrangement he and Lorelai had. If he had stood by her when she had been pregnant then their relationship wouldn't be what it was today. His only daughter was finally getting married and she had been too afraid to tell them. He had heard the fear in her voice and hated that's what it had all come down to.

"Thank you, Daddy," she whispered. "I'm glad you feel that way."

"Yes, well-" he cleared his throat.

"Dad, I know the wedding isn't till June, and I know you and I don't always get along, but would you walk me down the aisle?"

Richard felt tears come to his eyes. "I'd be honored, Lorelai. Maybe by then our relationship will be better. I'm sorry I let you down all those years ago."

"It's fine," lied Lorelai.

"No, Lorelai, it's not. You and Luke told us repeatedly that you two belonged together, and we didn't listen. I feel bad about that. If we had listened you and Luke could already be married. And I'd know Rory better."

"Oh, Dad. It's no one's fault. You and Mom, and William and Kelly all did what you thought was best at the time. Luke and I were sixteen. We were young."

"Yes, well, I am happy for you Lorelai. Really." Richard looked at the clock. "I should go. And I'll talk to your mother."

"Thanks Dad." After they hung up Lorelai felt relieved. She was glad her father was happy for her. They had made the first connection in bridging the gap between them. If she could mend her relationship with her father then maybe she and her mother could do the same. Lorelai wasn't sure but maybe this is what they all needed to be one big happy family. Her and Luke getting married. She crossed her arms and leaned back into her old couch. Now if she could only repair the broken relationship with her mother. She wanted to do it for Rory's sake. Rory needed to know both sets of grandparent's and right now she got along well with Will and Kelly. They had taken to her immediately. Well, Will had. It had taken Kelly a few weeks to get used to the idea. Lorelai sighed and looked at the pictures on the mantle. She didn't know how but she was going to make sure both sides of the family got along again and help repair all the broken friendships.


	14. Chapter 14

When Emily Gilmore entered her house later that afternoon after getting her hair done and visiting with the girls for some tea she found Richard waiting for her. He looked upset and had his arms crossed.

"I need to talk to you," he said the moment he saw.

"About what?"

"About the way you reacted when Lorelai told us she was getting married!" exclaimed Richard. "You just brushed her comment off and walked away without congratulating her or anything. Do you really want to lose our only daughter and not be able to see Rory or any other grandchildren we may have?"

"In case you haven't noticed, we've already lost her," said Emily. "The moment she got pregant she changed. Our relationship with her changed. And then when that baby was four weeks old she ran away!"

"Maybe that's our fault. We tried so hard to force her and Luke apart." Richard shook his head. "You know, I think Lorelai and I are on the track to getting our relationship fixed. She asked me to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day."

"That's nice," said Emily heading to the kitchen to let the maid know what time dinner needed to be. She had just gotten a new maid and apparently each one was worse than the last.

"Emily! The least you can do is be happy for our only daughter. She and Luke are finally getting married. They're going to be a family after all these years." Richard followed her to the kitchen. "You could at least call her."

"Why would I do that?" demanded Emily. She turned to the maid. "Sarah, please make sure dinner is at seven. And that you serve it on time."

"Yes, ma'am," said the maid, nervous.

"Because you're happy for her," said Richard following her to the den. When she didn't say anything he realized something. "You're not happy for her?"

Emily stopped at the dining room table to rearrange the flowers there before continuing to the living room. "I wouldn't say that exactly," she said. "I'm glad she's getting married. But she could have told us the day she got engaged."

Richard clenched his jaw trying to stay calm. "Maybe she would have told us the other day but she was too afraid to do so. We never showed any support in the choices she's made in the past ten years. But I want that to change starting now. Lorelai and I have agreed to meet once a week for lunch."

Emily turned around. "With the both of us?"

"No, with me. I think she still holds a grudge about the fact that you had promised her to find Luke after she had Rory." He sat down on the sofa. "I think we made a mistake tearing those two apart. So what that they made a mistake and Lorelai got pregnant? We have a beautiful granddaughter and Lorelai has a good job. They could have been the family they wanted to be if we hadn't tore them apart like that." He hung his head guiltily.

Emily softened a bit and sat down next to him. "We didn't do anything wrong. We thought it would be best for them to not be around each other." She looked down at the floor before returning her gaze to him. "I have a confession to make."

"What?"

"After Rory was born I went to see Kelly. I told her about the baby and that if she didn't come to senses and realize that Luke and Lorelai needed to be together she'd miss the chance of watching her granddaughter grow up." She looked away for a minute. "Maybe I should have listened to my advice back then and we wouldn't be sitting here feeling guilty." A sob worked its way into her throat and she tried to hold it back but not succeeding. "We've missed so much. I should call Lorelai and apologize."

Richard nodded and agreed. He handed her the phone and went into his study. Emily dialed her daughter's phone number. Lorelai answered on the first ring. "Lorelai I want to apologize for the way I acted a little while ago."

"Mom?"

Emily sighed. "Yes it's me. I'm sorry for the way I acted after you announced your engagement. I am glad you and Luke are getting married. And if you need any help planning the wedding I'm here."

Lorelai was silent contemplating her mother's words. She had never had the best relationship. Sure they had been close but not like best friends like her and Rory were. After a minute Lorelai finally said, "Thanks for calling and apologizing. That means a lot coming from you." She hesitated once more. "I'm sorry that was uncalled for. You've never really supported much of my life these past ten years."

Emily sighed. Lorelai had every right to be harsh to her. "That's fine, I understand."

"Mom?" asked Lorelai.

"Yes?"

"Rory, Sookie, Kelly and I are going dress shopping at the mall Saturday morning. Would you like to join us?"

Emily smiled. "I'd love to." They finished going over the details of when to meet before hanging up. Emily headed to Richard's study. "I talked to Lorelai. She invited me to go shopping with her and Rory on Saturday."

"That's good," said Richard. "Are you going to go?"

Emily didn't need to think twice about that. "Of course I'm going, Richard. I don't want to miss this chance of seeing Lorelai get married. It might be good to spend a little time with her."

Saturday morning Lorelai, Rory, Sookie and Kelly arrived at the mall in Hartford right on time. The met Emily at the door and made their way to the wedding dress store. As they made their way to the store Kelly turned to Emily. "Emily, I need to apologize."

"For what?" asked Emily.

"The way I treated you when you came to see me ten years ago," she said. "I was a bit harsh to you. And I was being selfish. All I cared about was what I thought best for Luke."

Emily shook her head. "We were all selfish. Don't blame yourself. Richard and I talked the other night and both came to the conclusion that it wasn't our fault. We just didn't have the heart to listen to our own children." She looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry."

Kelly embraced her friend. "Oh, Emily," she said. The two hugged and found that they could pick up where they had left off before everything had gone bad.

Lorelai found the perfect wedding dress instantly. It was a simple white gown that fell over her feet once she put the heels on. It had puffy sleeves that hung on her arms instead of up on her shoulders. All in all it seemed like the perfect dress. However the bridesmaid dress Sookie picked out Lorelai wasn't sure about it. The dress was a peachy color and had puffy sleeves like the wedding dress. But after seeing it on Sookie Lorelai had to admit that the dress suited her.

Emily offered to help pay but Lorelai said that she and Luke were paying for their own wedding as much as possible. But in the end after getting the necessary accesories Lorelai let her mother pay for everything. When Lorelai and Rory got home they carried in their stuff and hid it all in Rory's closet.

"Why are we hiding everything in my closet again?" asked Rory as they put the things away.

"Because it's bad luck for your Dad to see my dress before our wedding day," said Lorelai heading to the kitchen. "What would you like for dinner? Pizza? Chinese?"

"How about both?"

"Pizza and Chinese it is!" said Lorelai raising her fists in the air. "You are so my child." She kissed her daughter's nose.

"I'm going to do homework til the food gets here," said Rory.

Lorelai smiled grabbing the phone. "You're my little book worm."

"I'm not little Mom." Rory headed to her room as Lorelai called for pizza and Chinese.

Thirty minutes later the two of them were enjoying the movie _The Sound of Music _and pizza, Chinese and a ton of junk food. Lorelai enjoyed their mother-daughter moments. Most nights the two of them were joined by Luke and they'd go out to dinner as a family and sometimes go see a movie. But on the nights that he had to close and work late he'd let them have their nights together. That was what Lorelai loved about Luke. He understood that Lorelai also needed to spend some alone time with Rory. Lorelai thought about their day. It had been a successful trip and her mother and Luke's mother had even rekindled their friendship. For the next few months all of them would be going back to that store in Hartfod for dress fittings and alterations so she knew that in the coming months both sides of the family would realize that they had been wrong and they'd all be friends again. Lorelai smiled and looked over at her daughter who had fallen asleep. She turned the TV off and carried Rory to her room. Oh how she missed that. She wanted to start growing her and Luke's family as soon as they were married. She just had to wait until June for that.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: So I hope you all enjoy this chapter. There's a little surprise/secret that just happened to write itself. Read and review please!**

The wedding plans were going well. Everyone in town now knew and that was a good thing according to Lorelai. According to Luke though, it was a bad thing. He hated how everyone in town knew his business. It was late October and he and Lorelai had only been engaged for a few weeks. Earlier that day he heard Miss Patty and Babette talking about a surprise engagement party for him and Lorelai. Luke tuned them out though and had gone back to taking orders and delivering food to people. That afternoon Sookie had come in demanding that he and Lorelai be in the town square at six that evening and he promised her repeatedly that they'd be there.

Now it was five-thirty and he was cleaning the counter before he headed up to his apartment to change clothes for the event Sookie had planned. He told Lorelai he'd pick her up at ten til six so he had twenty minutes to get ready. He got ready and was just about to close up the diner when the door opened. He looked up and saw the last person he'd ever expect to see standing there.

"Rachel," he said surprised. Luke grabbed his keys and put them in his pocket.

"Luke, it's good to see you," said Rachel.

Luke just stood there not quite sure what to say. Apparently she didn't mind that she had been the one who had broken up with him the day he found out about Rory. "Why, I mean, what are you doing here Rachel? I thought you were in Africa or something like that."

Rachel nodded. "I was. But I couldn't stay til December. Don't you want to know why?"

Luke shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Why?"

"I missed you too much. I overreacted that day you told me about your daughter. So what? We could have worked things out."

Again he shook his head. "Rachel, I can't. I have to go." He started for the door.

"Does where you're going have something to do with whatever is going on outside?" she asked gesturing toward the town square.

Luke looked out the window where the town was decorated for the evening before looking back outside. "Yeah, it does," he answered. "I need to go." As an afterthought he added, "You can come if you want. I'm sure everyone will want some pictures." Luke turned and headed out the door. He kept wondering why his ex-girlfriend was back. When he got to Lorelai's house he stood there on the porch trying to clear his head.

Lorelai opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. "Hey, you," she said, giving him a quick kiss. "Rory's already in town with Lane." She studied him for a second. "Is something wrong?"

Luke nodded. He and Lorelai both agreed that honesty was important in their relationship. "Rachel's back."

Lorelai looked at him. "You're ex-girlfriend Rachel? That Rachel?" Luke had told her all about Rachel and how she would just up and leave without notice sometimes. Lorelai couldn't be sure if she liked Rachel or not.

Luke nodded again. "She showed up right before I came over. She said she came back because she missed me." Luke was angry. "She's the one who left. When I told her about Rory she got upset and told me that she had a job she was going to take until December. And now she shows up after four months? What did she think? That I'd be here waiting for her? Well, I'm not. I have you and Rory and I couldn't be happier." Luke sighed and breathed deeply. He and Lorelai were making their way towards town. "I'm sorry. That might have been a little harsh."

Lorelai shook her head and took his hand in hers. "No, that's fine." She stopped and looked up at him. "I"m glad you told me first. I love that you're honest with me and Rory. That's important."

Luke smiled. "It is, isn't it?" He took her face in his hands and worked his fingers through her hair and kissed her slowly. "You know why this is working out don't you?"

Lorelai pulled back. "Why?"

"Because we're completely honest with each other. And because we put God first in our relationship. That's the most imortant part," he said.

"It is," she agreed. "That's why I know our marriage will last forever." She laced her fingers through his. "Come on, we better get to going. Sookie will kill us if we're one minute late."

Luke laughed and led her towards the square. She stopped when she saw the banner saying 'Congratulation Luke and Lorelai!'. Lorelai put her hand to her mouth surprised and speechless. "This is for us?" she whispered.

Luke grinned and nodded. "I think Sookie planned an engagement party for us." He looked around and then he saw two chairs near the gazebo that must have been for them. It was surrounded by a towering pile of presents and the chairs resembled thrones fit for a king and queen. Which was fitting for them. He spotted Sookie hurrying over to them.

"Finally!" she huffed. "You're here. We can't eat without you and Lorelai! Or open presents!" She grabbed both of them by the hand and started pulling them toward the buffet line full of cakes, cookes, scones, brownies, tarts, every kind of nut imaginable. "Come on! Let's get this party started!"

Lorelai held out a hand. "Sook, wait. Did you plan all this?"

Sookie grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I did. With the help of everyone else in town. Do you like it?"

"I love it. Thank you," said Lorelai. She hugged Sookie and then let she let Sookie lead her and Luke to the food. Lorelai even convinced Luke to try some of the cakes and cookies at least for her and he agreed. They made their way to the chairs so that they could be the center of attention. After they ate the food they took turns opening the piles of gifts around them. They got everything they could possibly need for a house like towels, and pots and pans for Luke and candles for Lorelai.

After a while they got up and made the rounds. Lorelai was surprised to see her parents there but she recovered and thanked them for coming. Then they came upon someone they didn't expect to see. Rachel.

Rachel looked at Luke and smiled at him but he noticed the smile didn't reach her eyes. "So, you're getting married, huh?" she asked with a hint of sadness in her voice. "I should have figured that out when you said all this was for you."

Luke was torn. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay but he just couldn't. He was too happy right now. "Rachel, I want you to meet Lorelai, my fiancee."

Rachel glanced at Lorelai. Her face hardened when she realized who Lorelai was. "You're marrying _her_? Luke, why? You barely know her."

Luke brstled with anger. "Yes, I am marrying Lorelai. I always planned on marrying her and having a family with her. And I do know her. I've known her my whole life. I may not have seen her in ten years but every day I find a reason to fall more in love with her."

Lorelai felt speechless after what Luke said. She looked at Rachel and got the feeling Luke's ex didn't like. Rachel didn't know her yet she seemed to hate her. Lorelai turned her attention back to Luke and whispered, "Is it just me, or does she not like me?"

Rachel heard that comment. "No, I don't like you very much. You've ruined every chance I have of being with Luke," she shot back.

Lorelai nodded as if she understood what Rachel meant. "I see. But I didn't do anything wrong. So what if I haven't seen Luke in ten years and that I had his daughter? We made a promise to love each other no matter what and to find each other. We have always planned on getting married and even though you're back in town nothing is going to ruin the perfect life I have with Luke."

They watched Rachel walk off angry. Luke turned to Lorelai. "That was a nice little speech you just said." He pulled her close and kissed her.

Lorelai leaned into him. "I meant every word. You know, I wish we could get married sooner."

"Me too," he agreed. He layed his forehead against hers. "Technically, we're still married," he added quietly so no one could hear him.

Lorelai leaned back and studied his eyes trying to figure out what in the world he meant. But when a flood of memories came rushing at her she gasped. "You remember?" she whispered. Not long after they had told their parents about the pregnancy Luke and Lorelai had been determined to do anything to stay together. They decided to get married and had gone to a neighboring city to do so. But they lied about their age and had forged their parent's signatures just to do so. But to this day no one knew about that little secret. "I can't believe you remember."

Luke smiled his crooked grin that she loved so much. "How could I forget? We've been married for ten years. Since June first 1984." He sighed and kissed her. The kiss was filled with a passion and a desire that couldn't be hidden. "I don't know why I ever dated Rachel. My mother set us up and I just went along with it. Truthfully, I felt horrible everytime I was with. I felt like I was cheating on you and all that we had."

"Oh, Luke," whispered Lorelai leaning into him. "I love you so much. I never stopped."

_Luke and Lorelai were sitting in her driveway in his truck. She was now four months pregnant and starting to show. She rubbed a hand over her rounded belly and sighed. In a little more than a month she and Luke would be separated. She felt the sting of tears in her eyes. _

_"What are we going to do, Luke? I can't be without you and the baby and I need you," she told him._

_Luke clenched his jaw and gripped the steering wheel. "I know. I need you too." He sighed and looked at her. "I've asked my dad if I could stay with you. He said he'd think about it." He uttered a sad laugh. "I heard him and Mom talking the other night and they said that I can't stay with you." He looked at her. "I have a buddy who married his girlfriend a few months ago. They went to another city and had a pastor marry them. Course they had to forge their parent's signatures."_

_Lorelai searched his face. "What are you saying?"_

_"I'm saying, we can go there and get married. You already have a ring. I know it's a promise ring, but it'll work." Luke looked at her. "We may have to lie and say we're eighteen and forge our parent's signatures but we can get married." Luke smiled at her for the first time in what felt like weeks._

_Lorelai smiled back. "You're serious aren't you? What will we tell people?"_

_Luke nodded. "Serious as a heartbeat." He paused. "Let's not tell anyone just yet. It can be our little secret."_

_"When will we get married?"_

_"How bout June first? We can lie and say we're going to a movie with a couple friends."_

_Lorelai bit her lip. The plan sounded good enough and she'd have to tell one of her friends. At least one that she could trust with this big secret. Finally she nodded. "Let's get married!" she said throwing her arms around Luke's neck._

_Luke laughed and kissed her. "I love you, Lorelai Gilmore." He rubbed her stomach. "I love you too, little one."_

_"And we love you, Luke Danes," said Lorelai._

As the memory of that day faded Lorelai looked into Luke's eyes. "It's still our little secret, isn't it?"

He nodded as he kissed her. "It will always be our little secret." He looked around them and spotted Rory sitting on a bench looking like she could pass out any second. He gestured to Rory. "I think someone's getting tired."

Lorelai turned and looked at their daughter. "I think we should get her home." She grabbed Luke's hand and they walked over to Rory. By the time they got there the ten year old was already asleep. Luke picked her up and cradled her in his arms. The party was already winding down so they told everyone goodnight and thanked them for coming. Sookie told them that she'd take care of the gifts and bring them by in the morning. When they got home Lorelai and Luke put Rory to bed before heading to the living room.

"So that was some party, huh?" asked Lorelai.

Luke nodded. "I'll say." He searched her eyes. "I'm sorry about Rachel. She's usually much nicer."

"Luke, it's okay. Maybe she's just jealous," said Lorelai. She wasn't sure if she was saying that to make Luke feel better or for her to feel better.

"You know, the only reason I dated her was because it made my mother happy. A year after we moved her my mother set us up." Luke looked down at the floor. "I'm not really sure why I let the relationship go on for so long. Maybe to pass the time until I found you."

Lorelai laid her hand on Luke's arm. "Luke, it's fine. I understand that you only dated her to make your mom happy." She uttered a sad laugh. "I think I did the same thing with Christopher. Our parent's were friends and I guess my mother thought we'd be good together and look how that turned out. He told anyone he met that he was Rory's father and he cheated on me and lied about everything." She laid her head on Luke's shoulder. "I already found my Prince Charming. Only problem was no one believed me."

"Is it me?" asked Luke teasing her.

Lorelai kissed his nose. "Yes, Mr. Danes, it's you. It's always been you and always will be." She stood and held out her hand. "Come on, let's get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow. Lorelai was going to help Luke box up his stuff and move into her house. After talking about moving in together for a few weeks it was finally happening. They were going to be the family they had dreamed of becoming so many years ago.

Luke took her hand and walked upstairs with her. As they drifted off to sleep he knew he was lucky. In a few months he'd be marrying Lorelai and they would be the family they should have been after she found out she was pregnant.


	16. Chapter 16

Rachel watched as Luke left the party that night. She went home and sat down on her couch. What had she possibly done wrong? She and Luke were meant to be together. He knew it and she knew it. So what if he had a kid? She could be a stepmother to Luke's kid couldn't she? She wrapped her arms around her stomach to ward off the feeling of lonliness. Before Luke had found out about the kid they had been talking about moving in together. She hadn't quite been ready for marriage but now after a few months of being away from Luke she was ready. She wanted to marry him and have his baby. How she'd convince him that she was ready she didn't know. He was engaged and she didn't want to be the reason for ruining that relationship. She decided that in the morning she would go to Luke's mother and tell her everything. Maybe Kelly would understand and help her.

The next morning after getting a quick shower and getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater Rachel headed over to Will and Kelly's house. She walked up onto the porch and rang the doorbell. Kelly answered the door right away.

"Rachel, I didn't know you were back," said Kelly.

Rachel wasn't sure but she thought Kelly didn't sound too pleased to see her. She brushed the thought aside and nodded. "Yeah, I got back last night. I couldn't stay away another minute."

Kelly held the door open. "Why don't you come in? I have some time before I have to head over to the diner." Kelly smiled as she made her way to the kitchen. She grabbed a tea pot and poured water setting it on the stove and turning the burner on. She pulled a couple packets of tea out of the cabinet before sitting down at the table across from Rachel. "Luke is moving in with Lorelai and Rory today. Will and I are going to help him get his stuff packed up." The tea pot started whistling signaling that it was ready. Kelly grabbed two tea cups from the cabinet and poured water in both of them before putting in the tea packets and handing one to Rachel.

Rachel swallowed and fingered the tea cup. "He's moving in with his girlfriend and her daughter?"

"Actually, Lorelai is his fiancee and Rory is their daughter. But yes he's moving in with them." Kelly took a sip of tea. "They're the perfect family. I don't know why Will and I were so adamant about them being apart. I ruined a friendship and a relationship. Will and I almost ended up divorcing not long after we moved here. He thought that Luke deserved to be a father to Rory and I was against it." She sighed and looked at Rachel. "I'm sorry. I'm telling you more than I should be."

Rachel tried to smile. "No, that's fine." She took a sip of her tea. "About Luke. I still love him and I want to marry him."

Kelly looked at the girl. She looked serious but Kelly had to let her know that Luke had chosen Lorelai a long time ago. "Rachel, you need to let Luke go."

Rachel shook her head. "But why? You always said that Luke and I were meant to be together."

Kelly hung her head. Yes she had always said that but she had been running from the fact that Luke and Lorelai were meant to be together. "I know I always said that, but Rachel, Luke and Lorelai chose each other. Lorelai's mother and I had planned it out a long time ago. The day Luke was born. Emily and I decided that when she had a daughter Luke could marry her and we'd always be family. I let that dream go when Lorelai got pregnant. I should have held on to that dream though. I missed out on seeing Rory's firsts. Her first smile, first laugh, her first word, everything." Kelly laid her hand on Rachel's arm. "Rachel, Luke is very happy. He's the happiest I've seen him in maybe years. You just need to let him go. You'll find the right guy soon."

Rachel wasn't so sure but she didn't say that. A few minutes later she left the house and walked down the street just letting her feet guide her. She stopped near the diner and saw Luke and Lorelai loading boxes into the back of his truck. They were laughing and Rachel had to admit Luke looked happier than he ever did. She felt the sting of tears and blinked them back. She observed the happy couple from a distance. If Luke was happy and there was no doubt that he was, then Rachel would let him go and be with Lorelai. That was the least she could do. She'd give him some space and maybe a few months from now she could be friends with him again.

Luke and Lorelai were loading boxes into Luke's truck. They had just put the first two boxes into the bed of his truck and went back upstairs to pack some more boxes. Luke's parent's would be stopping by soon to help them. Lorelai raced Luke up the stairs to his apartment. When she reached the door she was out of breath.

"You'd think with all the walking I do everyday I'd be in shape to run," she panted trying to catch her breath.

Luke opened the door and stepped inside. "Oh, really?" he challenged.

She poked him in the ribs. She knew he was making fun of her but she didn't mind. "Yes, really." She grew serious. "I want to start looking at cars. You have your truck but I need something to get to and from work. Especially when it rains or snows."

Luke nodded agreeing with her. "That's a good idea. What kind of car were you thinking about?" They had talked about finding her a used car for a few months now but he had never asked what type of car she wanted.

Lorelai grinned and pulled out a picture from her back pocket and handed it to him. "I want a Jeep Wrangler. Actually, Rory and I both do. When we have more kids we can get a bigger car and the Jeep can be Rory's when she turns sixteen. What do you think?"

Luke studied the picture. He knew it wasn't the exact Jeep she wanted but it was the type she wanted. "I think it'd be a good car. And I agree that once we start having more kids we'll need a bigger car. We could get you another Jeep if you want and keep the Wrangler for Rory." He handed the picture back to Lorelai. "We can start looking this week at the Jeeps."

Lorelai smiled. "Thank you!" Then she looked down at the floor. "Um, what about...?" She trailed off.

"What about the money?" Luke nodded seeing the concern in her eyes. "Money isn't an issue. I know you want to save your money for the important things like bills and such and I think that's good, but I've got more than enough money to buy you the Jeep that you want."

Lorelai looked up at him. "Are you sure? I don't want you spending that much money on me."

"Lorelai, it's fine. I don't mind spending the money to get you a car."

Lorelai nodded, convinced that Luke really didn't mind. "Thank you. I mean it." She leaned into him and wrapped her arms around him.

"You're welcome," he said wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. "How about we go first thing Monday? We'll drop Rory off at school and we'll go shopping for a Jeep Wrangler."

"Sounds good to me," said Lorelai.

Will and Kelly showed up a few minutes later and between the four of them they got all Luke's stuff packed up to move over to Lorelai's. Luke was only taking the things he needed like his clothes and other personal belongings. The fridge, stove, table and chairs and the couch, armchairs, the bed and TV were staying. Luke and Lorelai took the truck to her house and unloaded the boxes. It didn't take long to put his things away. Later that evening Lorelai couldn't help but think how perfectly Luke fit into her and Rory's lives.


	17. Chapter 17

Monday morning Luke and Lorelai headed to Hartford to a Jeep Dodge Chrysler dealership after dropping Rory off at school. For hours Lorelai and Luke walked around the car lot. Lorelai had to get in every single Jeep Wrangler model there was and see how it felt. Finally about an hour before they needed to back in Stars Hollow to get Rory Lorelai found the perfect Jeep Wrangler.

The Jeep was red with a black soft top. The inside was tan with leather seats. It had a tape player and even had a CD player which was a nice feature for that year. Like all Wrangler's it had two doors and it was an automatic which Lorelai was thankful for because she could not for the life of her figure out how to drive a stick. She looke at Luke and grinned. "This is it," she declared. "I know it. This is the one I want."

Luke sighed. _Finally, _he thought. After so many hours of looking at all the different models of Jeep Wranglers he was glad she finally found the one she liked. "Okay then," he told her. "How about you stay here and I'll go tell the guy we want this Jeep."

Lorelai climbed out of the driver's seat and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed.

Luke smiled at her and then headed inside. She watched the interaction and then the guy and Luke came back out. Luke grinned. "The Jeep is now yours," he told her.

The salesman handed her the keys and thanked her for buying the car. Lorelai turned to Luke after the man went back inside. "I can't believe it! I finally have a car!"

"I know," he said. "I'll follow you home okay? You can get Rory and take her for a drive."

So they headed off for Stars Hollow, Lorelai in her new Jeep and Luke in his truck. Once in Stars Hollow Lorelai headed to the elementary school to wait for Rory. When Rory walked out of the school her face lit up and she ran to Lorelai.

"You got a car!" exclaimed Rory.

"I did! It's a Jeep Wrangler just like you wanted me to get!" said Lorelai. They jumped up and down excited for a couple minutes.

"Can we go for a ride?" asked an excited Rory.

"Of course!" said Lorelai. The two of them climbed in and Lorelai started the Jeep and it roared to life. "So, what do ya think?"

"Mom, I love it!" Rory checked everything out. The radio, the backseat, every single thing in the car.

"Good, cause when you turn sixteen you'll be getting it."

Rory cocked her head as they made their way through town. "Why?"

"Well, missy, your dad and I both want more kids and we'll need something a little bigger once we have a couple more," explained Lorelai. She looked over at her daughter. "But don't worry that won't be happening for at least another two or three years."

Rory was silent and watched everything flash by the window. She noticed that the windows could unzip. "That's so cool that the windows unzip," she said pointing at the window.

Lorelai nodded. "I agree. In the summer we can take the whole top off. Of course the sun would have to be shining for us to do that."

"I really like the Jeep, Mom."

Lorelai smiled as she pulled into their driveway and put the Jeep in park and shutting it off. "Come on, we better get inside. It's freezing out here."

"It's not that cold Mom," replied Rory as they made their way to the house. "Hey, aren't you gonna park the Jeep in the garage?"

Lorleai looked from her new Jeep to the garage and back. "Uh, no. If I did, every time I had to go somewhere I'd have to open up the garage doors to get the car out and then get out of the car to close the garage doors. So no, I'm not parking the Jeep in the garage."

"Well, that makes sense."

"Of course it does," said Lorelai heading to the kitchen. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Mom, it's after three, we still have a few hours before dinner. Plus, I need to do homework first," said Rory.

Lorelai kissed her daughter's forehead. "Okay, go study, my little book worm," she said. "I need to pay bills anyway."

So Lorelai paid the monthly bills and Rory studied. Around six Rory emerged from her room. "Okay, I'm starving. What's for dinner?" she asked Lorelai.

"Whatever you want, kid," answered Lorelai. "We could have Chinese, or pizza or go to Al's Pancake World or go to the diner."

Rory thought for a second. "Let's go see Dad. Won't he be home late?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, so we'll go eat with Dad. Ooh, maybe he could join us. I haven't seen him since this morning."

"Then let's go!" said Lorelai.

They grabbed their coats and walked to the Jeep. They drove the five minutes it took to get to town and parked in front of the diner. They went in and found a table big enough for the three of them if Luke decided to join them. Luke walked up to them as they sat down. "Hey, how are my girls?" he asked taking out an order pad.

Rory smiled at her father. "I got an 'A' on my book report!" she exclaimed. She had had a book report about _Tom Sawyer_ and since she could read a book in at least a week or two she had the book report done ages before it was due.

Luke smiled back at her. "That's amazing." He looked at Lorelai. "What are you feeding her? She's the smartest kid I know."

Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know. But I give us credit. I mean, we are pretty smart so combined we'd have one smart kid."

Luke chuckled. "What do you two want?"

Rory answered first. "I want a burger with lettuce and tomato and mayonaise and fries." She looked at her dad. "Oh, and a Root Beer."

Lorelai nodded. "I want the same thing but with coffee. And throw in a couple slices of that peach pie."

Luke wrote down their order. "You do know coffee is bad for you right?"

"So?" demanded Lorelai batting her eyelashes at him.

"So-" Luke forgot what he was going to say. He had a come back he knew he did. But the way Lorelai had looked at him made his heart stop. He shook his head and gestured to the kitchen. "I'll be back with the food and I'll sit with you."

Miss Patty was in the diner and headed over to their table. "Lorelai, I just want to say congratulation again. You and Luke are just perfect for each other."

Lorelai smiled. "Thank you. And I think so too. It helps that I've known him for years."

"Oh, of course. Tell me, when do the two of you plan to expand your family? I mean, Rory can't be an only child forever."

Lorelai hesitated. "Well, uh, we've decided to wait a couple years. You know, get settled as a married couple and as a family."

Patty nodded as if she understood but she didn't. "Oh, well sure. I'll see the two of you later." And then she walked off.

Luke came then with their order and sat down with them. "What was that all about?"

"I think Miss Patty was asking when you and Mom would have more kids," answered Rory.

Luke's mouth dropped open. "What?" he asked Lorelai.

Lorelai nodded. "It's true. She just asked when we were planning on having another baby. I told her that we'd have more kids when we were ready. Like after we've been married a year or two."

Luke clenched his jaw. "I wish everyone would just stay out of everyone's business including their personal lives."

"I know sweetie, I know," Lorelai said gently. She looked out the window and saw Kirk eyeing her car. "Uh, what in the world is Kirk doing?"

"I don't know," said Luke.

"It looks like he's checking out the Jeep, Mom," Rory said.

Kirk came in and announced, "Who's Jeep is that?" He pointed outside. "I know what kind of car everyone drives in town and I have never seen that car before."

Lorelai stifled a giggled. "Kirk, that's my car."

"Are you sure?" he asked, confused. "Because last time I checked you didn't own a car."

This time Lorelai laughed. "I just got it today."

"Oh," was all Kirk said and he sat down at the counter.

That got the whole diner talking about Lorelai's new Jeep. Lorelai groaned and laid her head on the table. "So I got a car! Big deal! I needed one and I got one. What's all the fuss about?" she demanded.

Kirk turned around. "Anyone who gets a new car is news. And I always make it a point to know who drives what car right down to the type and year model. For example your Jeep is a Wrangler and it was made in 1993."

Lorelai scowled. "Oh, thanks, it's not like I didn't already know that."

"You didn't know?" asked Kirk.

"Of course I knew!" shouted a frustrated Lorelai.

Everyone quieted down and went back to what they had been discussing before Kirk had come in. Lorelai and Rory ate in silence and when they were done they paid and went home. Rory looked over at her mother. "You know, they're just looking out for us."

Lorelai sighed. "I know, sweets, but I have to agree with your Dad. I sometimes wish everyone in town would mind their own business." Lorelai pulled into the driveway and shut the car off.

"Like Miss Patty or Kirk or Babette?" asked Rory. She could understand what her mom meant in a way.

"Yeah. I mean there's got to be more than just finding out what's going on in someone's life or gossiping about someone." They climbed out of the car and made their way inside the house. "Okay, my little one, time for bed."

"But Mom, it's not even eight yet!" said Rory.

Lorelai laughed. "I know, I was teasing. Let's watch a movie and then it will really be time for bed."

"What movie should we watch?

"It doesn't matter you pick."

So Rory picked the movie _Annie _and popped it into the VCR. Near the end she had her hands over her eyes. Lorelai looked over and giggled. "Rory, sweets, it's okay. We've seen this millions of times and Annie is fine. You know that."

"I know, but Mom, when she's climbing that bridge I get scared."

"I know, kid. It's almost over."

Rory finally relaxed when little Annie was rescued and when the end credits started Lorelai announced it was time for bed. They told each other good night and headed for bed.


	18. Chapter 18

The days passed quickly and soon it was Thanksgiving. Luke opened the diner up for lunch for people who didn't have anything to do or just didn't feel like cooking that day. After lunch he, Lorelai, and Rory headed over to his parent's house for Thanksgiving. Already Lorelai and Rory had been by the Kim's and to Sookie's for their annual Thanksgiving dinners. After Luke's parent's they would head to Hartford for dinner with the Gilmore's.

"I can't wait for you to meet my nephew," Luke told Lorelai and Rory as they walked towards his parent's house. It was a nice day and they had decided to enjoy it as much as they could.

"How old is he?" asked Rory.

"He's the same age as you," said Luke. "His birthday is next month so you're actually older than him by two months."

"What's his name?" Rory asked. She was curious to know more about her cousin.

"His name is Jess."

Lorelai was a little worred about Rory meeting Jess even though Luke had reassured her a million times that it would be fine. Luke had told her the story of how Jess came to be. Apparently when Luke and his family had come to Stars Hollow the month before Lorelai told anyone about her pregnancy, Liz had met someone a year or so older than her and had gone out with him. And that was how Jess happened. Liz had ended up marrying Jess's father, Jimmy Mariano a few weeks after graduating high school and then a couple years after that Jimmy had fled to California. Now five years later Liz had trouble with drinking and she could barely keep a boyfriend for more than a few months let alone a job. She could barely pay the rent and would call Luke to come help her. And Jess was headed for destruction. He barely made good grades in school even though he enjoyed reading. Lorelai sighed and prayed a silent prayer as they walked up the steps of Will and Kelly's house and headed inside.

"Hey, Mom, Dad," called Luke as they entered the kitchen. Both his parent's were preparing the meal. The turkey and dressing were in the oven as were the rolls and sweet potatoes. On the counter there were pumpkin and pecan pies.

"Luke, I'm glad you came," said Kelly giving her son a hug. "Lorelai, Rory it's so good to see you. Rory how's school?"

"Really good, Grandma." Rory was glad she knew her other grandparents. She had grown closer to them in the last few months and always asked to go see them every chance she could get. "Hi, Papa!" Rory gave her grandfather a hug.

"Rory-bug, how are you?" asked Will.

Liz and Jess walked in just then. "Hi, big brother!" she said giving Luke a hug. She looked at Jess. "Jess, say hello."

"Hi Liz," said Luke. He really did love his sister but he was sometimes annoyed by the way she acted and wished that she could straighten up. "Hey, Jess, I want you to meet someone." He gestured to Lorelai and Rory. "This is my fiancee Lorelai and our daughter Rory."

Lorelai smiled at Jess. "Hi, Jess, it's very nice to meet you." She didn't feel too bad now that she saw Jess. He was just a kid. He couldn't help the way his mother acted and Lorelai instantly felt sorry for him.

"Yeah, whatever," said Jess. He wasn't too happy about being in this small town. He was already bored and just wanted to get back to the city. He looked over at Rory and his first thought of her was that she was pretty. But apparently she was his cousin or would be his cousin. He wasn't quite sure about that part. He offered her a small smile and said, "Hi."

Rory looked at her cousin. "Hi," she said back to him. She asked Jess if he wanted to go watch TV until lunch was ready and he agreed.

"So is Luke going to be your stepdad or something?" he asked when they had sat down in front of the TV.

Rory giggled. "No, silly, he _is _my dad."

"How?" asked Jess confused.

"How what?"

"How is he your dad?" asked Jess. "I mean how long have you lived here? And when could your mom and Luke possibly have met?"

Rory grew serious and her smile faded. "Well, Mom and Dad have been friends since they were babies. I guess our moms were too. They all grew up together. But when Mom got pregnant her parent's and Dad's both tore them apart and moved them to different cities. Mom moved to Hartford and Dad moved here. That's what Mom has told me many times. Apparently a few weeks after I was born she came here to find my dad with no luck. At least not until this past June. And he and Mom got engaged in October after my birthday. The wedding is in June."

"Huh," was all Jess said.

"Is that all you can say?" asked Rory. "I tell you the story of how my parent's have known each other for years and all you can say is 'Huh'?"

Jess shook his head. "Nope, just trying to figure out how come my mother has never mentioned the fact that I have a cousin."

Rory looked down at the floor. "It's because Dad's family wanted nothing to do with me or Mom for more than ten years. Not until a few months ago did Grandma and Papa finally realized how wrong they were. Well Papa accepted me and Mom right away. It took Grandma a couple months."

"Oh." Jess was silent. "Is that what you call Grandma and Grandpa?"

Rory nodded. "Yes. I already have a grandma and grandpa. Those are Mom's parents. I had to come up with something to call Dad's parents." Rory scrunched up her nose. "Okay so I couldn't come up with something better than grandma for Dad's mom but at least it works."

"Of course it does," said Jess.

They watched TV for a while and then Rory asked, "So where's your dad?"

Jess looked down at the floor and mumbled, "He's gone."

Rory didn't know what that meant. "He died? I'm sorry."

Jess shook his head again. "No, I mean, he left when I was five. Mom and I haven't heard from him since then."

"Oh," said Rory. "Well, I'm still sorry."

Jess nodded. "Thanks."

They all ate lunch in the small dining room that was just off the kitchen. Liz told Lorelai about all the times Luke had saved her from trouble. Lorelai could understand. Luke was Lorelai's hero and many times he was always there for her. After a couple hours with Luke's family Lorelai announced that she, Luke, and Rory needed to get home to get ready for her parent's Thanksgiving dinner. They headed back to their house to get ready and then they headed to Hartford. Every year for Thanksgiving her parent's would invite some friends to join there dinner and this year was no different. As soon as they arrived the maid lead them to the den and Richard got them drinks. A beer for Luke, a martini for Lorelai and a Coke for Rory.

"Lorelai, you remember Natalie and Douglas Swope," said Emily.

Lorelai shook her head. "Um.." she said.

"Lorelai, you have met them numerous times. They're here every Thanksgiving," said Emily.

"Oh, well in that case," said Lorelai. She shook hands with them. "It's nice to meet you." She gestured to Luke. "This is my fiancee Luke and our daughter Rory."

Natalie smiled. "Ah, yes. We met Rory last year. Luke it's nice to meet you. So you're Rory's father?"

Luke smiled nervously. "Yes, I am. And it's nice to meet you too."

Dinner was served at seven and they all gathered in the dining room. Richard looked at Lorelai. "So what have the three of you been up to today?"

Lorelai swallowed her bite of food before she answered. "Well, we went to Rory's best friend's house for Thanksgiving this morning, then we went over to Sookie's and after that we went to Luke's parents house. And now we're here." Lorelai smiled.

"My goodness, that's a lot of food to eat in one day," commented Natalie.

"Well we didn't eat everywhere. Rory's friend Lane is Korean and Lane's mother always makes tofurkey so we didn't eat there and Sookie's lunch wasn't ready yet so we just hung out with her. We did eat at Will and Kelly's house though," said Lorelai.

They talked throughout dinner. Natalie and Douglas asked about the wedding plans and when Lorelai and Luke would be getting married. "Oh the wedding plans are coming along very well," said Lorelai. "We're getting married at the church in town and then we're having the reception at the inn I work at. We would have the wedding outside but Luke here would rather have the ceremony at the church and I agreed." Lorelai nudged Luke in the ribs.

"I think a church wedding would be nice," said Luke.

"Honey, I have nothing against getting married at the church. Besides, we can stand before our family and friends and God and say our vows to each other," said Lorelai. She really didn't have anything against a church wedding. Lorelai looked at her mom. "Oh, Mom, Luke and I have our invitations picked out and we have some sample ones with different wordings. The problem is we can't decide which would be a good one."

"So you're asking me to help you?" asked Emily.

Lorelai nodded. "You'd have a better idea of what we should say on our invitations so that they will look perfect."

"Yes, you're probably right. Just bring them over on Monday and we'll look at them." Emily took a bite of food. "And I can give you some names of caterers and florists and photographers too."

Lorelai sighed. She hesitated in saying anything. But then she decided that it wouldn't matter just looking into them. She and Luke were keeping their wedding simple by paying for it all and didn't want anything too expensive. Sookie had told her that she would cater for free. "Okay, that'd be nice. Sookie said she'd cater the wedding but there's nothing wrong with checking out other caterers and things."

"No, there is not," said Emily.

Dinner ended around ten and Lorelai, Luke, and Rory got home about ten thirty. When Lorelai and Luke crawled into bed that night she sighed. She was thinking about everything her mother had said to her.

"What's wrong?" asked Luke. He could always tell when something was bothering her.

"My mother," said Lorelai. She crossed her arms. "It's nice that she wants to help, don't get me wrong. But we're trying to keep everything simple. That's why we're getting married here. Reverend Skinner has given us a discount on the church and I can get a discount at the inn because I work there. And Sookie is doing the catering for practically nothing. And the florist shop in town is also lowering their prices for us. All we need is a photographer." She looked at him an idea dawning on her. "What about Rachel?"

"Rachel?" asked Luke. He lowered his brow. "You mean my Rachel?"

"Yes. Do you think she'd photograph the wedding for us?"

Luke cleared his throat. "Ah, I don't know. I guess I could ask."

Lorelai smiled. "That'd be great." She kissed his cheek and crawled beneath the sheets. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," replied Luke. He stayed awake long after she had gone to sleep. It looked like in the next few days he'd have to ask Rachel to photograph his and Lorelai's wedding. The problem was would she do it? He guessed he'd find out.


	19. Chapter 19

**A.N: Okay so I'm mainly working on finishing up this story. When it will end I have no clue. I already have the sequel planned which will start with the first episode of Gilmore Girls. **

The Thanksgiving weekend went by in a hurry and soon everyone was back to work and school. Monday Lorelai went over to her parent's house and listened to her mother go on about what types of food should be served at a summer wedding and the cake and what kind of flowers she should get and who the best photographer was. She had gotten there at ten and now it was a quarter after one and Lorelai had a headache. All she had wanted was her mother's opinion on the wording of her invitations. Lorelai hadn't expected she'd get a lecture on who would be the best caterer, where to get certain types of flowers and the kind of photographer she would want. Not to mention someone to make a video of the wedding. Seriously who would want a tape of their wedding? Certainly pictures would be enough.

So Lorelai sat at the dining room table nodding and taking notes (her mother had insisted) and trying to speak up if she didn't like something. Lorelai was getting tired. She'd been feeling tired for the past few days and decided it was just because she was stressed. She and Luke had a weekly meeting with the reverend just to discuss any issues they had. They didn't have many. Not to mention all the meetings with the florist and with Sookie. Sookie was making them sample cakes almost every week trying to find one they could agree on. Once spring arrived they'd be tasting food constantly.

"Lorelai!" Emily snapped. "You're not listening!"

Emily was talking about the caterer yet again. Lorelai looked up. "Mom, I am, honest. But I've heard everything about ten times and I really need to get back to Stars Hollow so I can pick up Rory."

"It won't hurt to be a few minutes late, Lorelai. I'm sure Luke could pick her up," said Emily. She continued with her lecture on what type of salad to serve, and what kind of drinks and the main course.

"Mom, we're not having a big sit down dinner," Lorelai interrupted.

"Why not? It'd give everyone a chance to sit down and mingle."

"They can mingle while they're standing. We're thinking about a buffet if Sookie agrees to it."

"A buffet? Seriously Lorelai, you're getting married. You should have a sit down dinner. With a nice steak, or lobster. Does Luke like lobster?" asked Emily.

"I don't know Mom. Luke doesn't eat much meat."

"Well then ask him," said Emily. "Now, what kind of flowers were you thinking of?"

"Mom, please, the wedding is in June. It's only November. We still have plenty of time to go over everything," said Lorelai. She was getting frustrated and she was starving. And she also needed to go to the store.

Emily sighed. "Fine. We can meet again after Christmas."

Lorelai sat back surprised. "Really? You're giving me a month off?"

"Well, I'd make you come back next week, but you're father and I are going to Europe to visit your grandmother for Christmas. We'll be back at the end of December."

Lorelai nodded. "Oh, well have fun. Wait, what about your Christmas party?"

"We're not having one this year," said Emily getting up.

"But what about the apple tarts? I wait all year long for those apple tarts?"

"Guess you'll have to wait another year." Emily went into the kitchen to make sure the maid knew what time to make dinner and when to serve it. When she came back Lorelai was in the same spot. "I thought you had to leave?"

"Oh! Yes, I do. Uh, thanks for this Mom," said Lorelai gathering her things. She left and made it home in time to get a cup of at Luke's

"Hey, how was your...?" Luke started to ask.

Lorelai held up her hand. "Don't even go there with me. I have spent almost four hours listening to my mother on what kind of food to serve, what kind of flowers we should have, who the best photographer is and so on. So don't ask." She sat down on a stool. "I need a large coffee to go please." She sighed. "How about we elope on June third? It'd save us all the trouble of planning this wedding."

Luke shook his head as he poured her some coffee. "No way. Our parents always planned on us getting married one day. The least we can do is give them a wedding." He searched her eyes. "Is everything okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I'm just tired. I think it's all this stress. I'm just ready for June to get here."

"Yeah, I know. You should get home and get some rest if you're tired." Alarm bells went off in his head. The last time Lorelai had complained about being tired she'd been pregnant with Rory. Luke felt the blood drain from his face. "You're not pregnant are you?"

Lorelai shook her head. "Luke, no, of course not. I'd know if I was. Besides I haven't been late. It just might be PMS making me tired." She looked at her watch. "I gotta go get Rory." She kissed him goodbye. And then she headed over to the elementary school to get Rory.

"Hi, Mom," said Rory when she walked out of the school.

"Hey, kid. How was your day?"

"It was good. I got an a 'B' on my math test though," said Rory.

Lorelai put her arm around her daughter as they walked to the Jeep. "Oh, a B is good. Math isn't your strongest subject. But I'm proud of you. You know that right?"

"Yeah, Mom, I know.

"No, I mean it. I don't care about what kind of grades you get. Now I know you are because you're weird that way and I love you for it, but seriously I'm proud of no matter what," said Lorelai. They climbed into the Jeep and headed home where Rory got started on homework and Lorelai tidied up the living room and the kitchen.

Luke left work a little early. He told Lorelai that morning he would stop by Rachel's and ask if she'd photograph their wedding. He was praying that she'd do it because she was an amazing photographer and she wouldn't charge them a large amount. He got up to her door and paused before knocking. He took a deep breath and knocked. Rachel opened the door immediately.

"Luke," said Rachel. Clearly she was surprised to see him. "What are you doing?"

Luke looked down and adjusted his cap. How should he begin. "Well, ah, you know I'm marrying Lorelai in June right? Of course you do you were at the party last month. Anyways, Lorelai and I need a photographer and Lorelai wondered if you'd do it." He looked at her.

Rachel bit her lip. She wasn't sure what to say. So instead she invited Luke in and lead him to the kitchen and made tea. "So you want me to photograph."

Luke nodded once. "Yes. It was actually Lorelai's idea. We're paying for this ourselves and Lorelai doesn't have the best relationship with her parents."

Rachel nodded. "I see." She sat down across from Luke. "I don't know if I can. I'll have to think about it and check my schedule. I'd tell you yes but since you know how I feel about you this is a hard decision."

Luke sat back and crossed his arms. "No, I don't know how you feel about me, Rachel."

Rachel sighed. "Luke, you know I still love you. Deep down you still know that."

"No, I didn't know that," said Luke. "How could I? You're the anywhere but here girl, Rachel. You and I both know that we never would have lasted." Luke stood up to leave. "I've gotta go. Just think about doing this, okay? Lorelai and I both can't afford a photographer who's going to charge us hundreds of dollars for the wedding." Luke left after that and Rachel watched him leave.

She had told him she would think about it and she would. Right now she was leaning towards not doing it. How could she? She should have been marrying Luke not Lorelai. Of course she had never given any reasons for Luke to think that could ever be a future between them. Time and time again she'd leave to go photograph some city or country whenever things got bad. Then she'd return a few months later begging Luke to take her back and that she was sorry. She sat in the kitchen for a while trying to decide what to do. She went to bed that night thinking that she'd take a few days and think about what Luke had asked her. Then she would be ready with an answer.

When Luke got home he found his girls watching TV. "Hey, what are you watching?" he asked. Then he noticed the boxes of pizza and takeout from Al's Pancake World. "You ordered food?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, well, we were hungry. And it's not pretty when we get hungry," she said. "I'm sorry." She stood up and went to him. "Sorry. Rory was hungry and couldn't wait to eat."

Luke smiled and nodded. "It's fine. I do know how you get when your hungry. Remember. I grew up with you and I know every single thing about you," he whispered kissing her.

Lorelai leaned into him. "That's right. You do know me. You know me so well." She kissed him back. She gestured to Rory. "I think she'll be suspicious if we stand here and make out."

"Hmm you're probably right," agreed Luke. They sat down on the couch with Rory between them. They ate and watched TV. Well Lorelai and Rory ate, Luke didn't eat a lot of junk food. He'd eat it with them once in a while but he couldn't handle it daily like Lorelai and Rory could. Rory fell asleep around ten and Luke helped Lorelai get her to bed. As he and Lorelai got ready for bed he told her about his conversation with Rachel.

"Well, it's good that you asked her and that she's thinking about it right?" asked Lorelai.

"Right." Luke sighed and crawled into bed next to Lorelai. "I just have this feeling she'll say no."

"But she could say yes," said Lorelai. "But if she says no, we'll look into the photographers my mother has picked out. We'll just take this one day at a time." She kissed him and turned the light out. "I love you." She snuggled up to him and wrapped her arms around him laying her head on his chest.

"I love you, too," he said. He kissed the top of head. "I might not say it enough, but I love you."

Lorelai just smiled and kissed him again this time longer and when they drew back they were both breathless. "We should get some sleep." She closed her eyes and was asleep in minutes.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Two chapters in one day! That probably won't ever happen often. Oh and for that sequel I'm planning if anyone has any good ideas for the title tell me! Oh and please read and review. Reviews make me happy!**

The next few days and weeks went by in a blur. Lorelai, Rory and Sookie were constantly at the mall getting their dress fitted and any alterations done. Well not constantly. Every couple weeks they'd be there. Christmas was coming up and Lorelai and Rory had gone to the mall. Lorelai had no clue what to get Luke for Christmas. A couple weeks ago the three of them had had family portraits done. Lorelai was thinking something along the lines of framing one of those and giving it to Luke. Then she got an idea as she and Rory walked by a store full of scrapbooks and materials needed for scrapbooks.

"Rory, I got the perfect idea for Dad!" said Lorelai excitedly leading her daughter into the store.

"What?" asked Rory. She already got her dad something. She had gotten him a cookbook. It was more like a book where he could write down all his favorite recipes.

Lorelai looked around the store. She needed a scapbook that was pretty but more masculine. "Well, we have a ton of your baby pictures and pictures of you up until now. I thought I could make your dad a scrapbook so he could see all those years he missed." Her eyes settled on a brown leather scrapbook and she headed to it.

Rory followed her mom. "I think Dad will love that. And we do have a ton of pictures of me." It was true. Lorelai and Mia took pictures of Rory as a baby and as a toddler and preschooler and all her milestones. And then they'd get multiples of those same pictures. Lorelai would have to send her parent's the pictures of Rory because the only time she and Rory would visit was Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

"I think so too." Lorelai grabbed the scrapbook and some stickers and the photo corner edges that held pictures down and headed to the counter. After she paid they left the store. "Do you think your dad would like a new flannel shirt?"

Rory giggled. Luke loved flannel shirts. It's all he would wear. Unless they went to church then he'd dress up nicer but he complained about it. "I don't know. I think he has about forty of them."

Lorelai grinned. "Yeah, I think he does. So just the scrapbook. Now we go home and start to work on the scrapbook."

"Are you going to go in order with the pictures?"

"Of course silly! I need to start with your hospital pictures and all your baby pictures. And of course all your firsts. Your first Christmas, your first Easter, your first birthday."

When they got home Lorelai went upstairs to her closet and pulled down her boxes of Rory's pictures. The pictures weren't all of just Rory. There were some with Rory and Emily and Richard, Rory and Lane and of course Rory and Lorelai. And Rory with various townpeople like Babette and her husband Morey and Miss Patty. She had made a photo album of all of the pictures then stashed away the others. She wasn't sure how she was going to keep the scrapbook a secret but she would. She went to the kitchen and laid everything out on the table. She figured it would take a few days to put together the scrapbook for Luke but she knew he would love it. She knew he hated not being involved and sometimes he felt like that made him a bad father.

She sat down and opened the first box. The first box contained pictures of Rory from birth to six months. The first one on top was a picture the hospital had taken of Rory. She was wrapped up in a blanket and her eyes were wide awake and alert. She fingered the picture. How different things could be now if Luke had been there that day. He would have held her and told her that she couldn't date until she was twenty. She wiped the tears from her eyes and slid the picture into place on the page. Underneath it she wrote, _Lorelai Leigh Danes, 7 lbs 5 oz October 8, 1984 4:03 a.m. _And for the next few hours that's how she did it. She'd take a picture out and study it and then put it on the page and label it. She was surprised that by the time it was almost five she had finished putting in all the pictures she could. She gathered her things and headed to her room. Rory was reading her book _A Christmas Carol. _That girl could read more than anyone.

Upstairs Lorelai wrapped the scrapbook and then pulled out some stationary and a pen. She decided that to go along with the scrapbook she would write a letter to Luke about Rory. She sat down in the chair by her window and wrote the letter in thirty minutes. When she had finished she looked at it and studied it and reread it.

_Dear Luke, _the letter began, _Well I just finished your Christmas present. I hope you love it. It's full of pictures of Rory starting when she was born. Making this scrapbook brought up a lot of memories. I wish you had been there the morning Rory was born. You already know the story so I don't need to tell you about it again. And you know how I came here when Rory was just four weeks old. Mia and I took pictures every free minute we had. We didn't want to waste a minute because those pictures were all for you. I guess I'll start with after Rory and I showed up at the Independence Inn. Rory and I had only been there for a few weeks and I enjoyed working as a maid. I worked better than all the other maids and they were jealous of me. When Rory was seven weeks old she smiled the first time. She had been fussy and the minute I took her out of her bassinet she smiled at me. Oh the joy I felt! She recognized me and I was on cloud nine. Luckily I had had a camera with me to document it. Rory was an easy baby. The only time she'd cry was if she was upset, or hungry or needed changing. She would wake up in the mornings cooing and I'd study her for hours while she slept. She was the most happiest baby ever. Okay so I was a little biased but I was a proud mother and I still am._

_You have no idea how much I longed for you these past ten years. I hated that you didn't get to hear Rory's first laugh or see her first smile or be there during her ear infections. She would get an ear infection every few weeks until finally her pediatrician put tubes in her ears. When Rory was excatly three months old in January she laughed for the first time. I had been trying to get her to smile at me. She had been fussy all night with an ear infection and just would not let me put her in her crib. Finally I made a silly face at her and she laughed. I was so happy that my baby had laughed that I started to cry. You weren't there like you had always said you would be and that killed me._

_By the time she was five months old Rory could sit up by herself. She was trying to crawl by then but just couldn't get the hang of it. After a few weeks of trying to crawl and much encouragement from me and Mia and the rest of the staff that adored her, she finally crawled to me. She crawled to me across the lobby of the inn and Mia just happened to have a camera and someone else had a videocamera. When she got to me I pulled her up into my arms and told her that I knew she could do it. She grinned that famous smile of hers and clapped her hands._

_When she was ten months old Rory started standing and pulling up on chairs and anything to help her balance. She took her first steps at the end of August. She didn't get very far but it was all that she needed to be able to start taking more steps each day. By the time her first birthday rolled around Rory was taking maybe five to ten steps a day. Her birthday was a blast. It was held at the inn and everyone in town came. Even my parents came but that was because Mia made me invite them. Sookie made her birthday cake. _

_Rory was the easiest child to raise. She never even hit the terrible two's. She was just calm and laid back. Although if it was raining she would not walk in the grass. She would fuss until I picked her up. She outgrew that by the time she was three. On her first day of kindergarten she woke me up at five and told me that all the teachers wanted to meet the parents. And of course I believed her. And the school was closed when we got there. For the next two years she would do the same thing but I never fell for it. I'll have to show you the home videos. We made a video just about everyday. _

_I must say that I'm glad you're back in my life and in Rory's life. She always asked about you and it's amazing to see how close the two of you have become these last six months. She truly is a daddy's girl. I can't wait until June when we officially become a family. And I can't wait to have more children with you. I love you Lucas William Danes._

_Love,_

_Lorelai_

Lorelai felt satisfied with the letter and she put it an envelope and sealed it before adding it to the scrapbook. As soon as she wrapped it she headed downstairs and put it under the tree that they had gotten a few days earlier. As soon as they had gotten home Lorelai had made Luke go into the attic to get all the Christmas decorations and they decorated the tree and the house that night.

Luke came in then. "Hey," he said kissing her.

"Hey, back."

"So are you just admiring the tree?" he asked his eyes dancing.

She poked him in the ribs. "No, I just put your present underneath the tree, silly."

"Ah," said Luke. He already had Lorelai's present. The same day that they got the tree he and Rory had gone to the mall. They had gone to the jewelry store and Rory helped him pick out a necklace that matched Lorelai's engagement ring.

Rory came into the living room. "Daddy, can we make Christmas cookies?" she asked.

Luke smiled. He had promised Rory he would make some sugar cookies with her that evening. "Of course." He and Rory headed to the kitchen with Lorelai behind them.

She watched as Luke helped Rory make the dough for the cookies and then roll it out to make snowmen and snowflakes and reindeer and Santa's and Christmas trees. After the cookes had been baked the three of them decorated the cookies. Both Rory and Lorelai put a ton of frosting and sprinkles on their cookies. When Lorelai dared Luke to eat one of the sugar cookies she had decorated he gave in. He didn't like it but he ate to make her happy. And he knew that's why their relationship always worked out. If Lorelai had ever wanted to something he would gladly go along with her and if he wanted to something he liked she always went along and hardly complained about it. That was why they got along so well now and he knew that their marriage would last for years.


	21. Chapter 21

Early Christmas morning Rory woke up at five o'clock. She laid in bed and watched the minutes tick by until it was six. She had promised her mom and dad she would let them sleep in til six. Finally at six she crawled out of the bed and walked upstairs to her parent's room.

"Mom! Dad!" she whispered crawling onto the bed.

Lorelai rolled over and opened her eyes. "What?"

Rory grinned big. "It's time to open presents! Come on!" Rory jumped off the bed and hurried downstairs and sorted out the presents.

Lorelai nudged Luke still asleep next to her. "Luke, Rory wants to open presents now." She crawled out of bed and pulled on her robe.

Luke opened his eyes and rubbed them. "What?"

"Rory's ready to open presents," she repeated.

"Oh," said Luke. Then he got up and the two of them headed downstairs to a waiting Rory.

"Finally! What took you two so long? said Rory. "I got all the presents sorted out."

For the next hour they opened presents with Rory going first. She loved everything she got. She got some clothes and new books and Luke had to take her outside to the garage to show her the bookcase he had been working on for the past few weeks. Lorelai went next. She loved the necklace that Luke had gotten her and was surprised to see that Rory had gotten her the matching pair of earrings. Luke was last. When he opened up the scrapbook from Lorelai he got tears in his eyes.

"Lorelai, this is beautiful," he said. He flipped through the pages marveling at the baby that had been Rory.

Lorelai grinned. "Really?" She bit her lip. "I had a hard time deciding. I mean how was I going to top Rory's gift?" She was teasing him.

Luke smiled at Lorelai. "Of course. This is one of the best gifts I could have gotten." He looked at Rory. "Don't worry, I think yours is also the best." He continued flipping pages looking at pictures of Rory through the years. "What made you decide to do this?"

Lorelai launched into the story. "And I figured since I have multiples of every picture of Rory growing up I could make you a scrapbook," she finished. "It only took a few hours. Of course it was hard deciding which pictures to put in there." She pointed to the box the scrapbook had been in. "I also wrote a letter that goes along with it."

Luke sat the book down and fished through the box until he found the letter. He opened it and read it. When he had finished he had tears in his eyes. He looked from Lorelai to Rory and back again. "I know I say this a lot, but I'm sorry." He wiped the tears from his cheeks. "If I had had a choice I would have been there every second."

Rory went to him. "Dad, it's okay. I know you didn't have a choice and it's not your fault. Actually it's no one's fault." She wrapped her arms around her father. "I"m just glad you're here now."

Luke hugged her back. "Thanks." He cleared his throat. "How 'bout I make us some pancakes?"

"Chocolate chip?" asked Rory

"Of course," said Luke.

"With syrup _and _whipped cream?" asked Lorelai hopefully.

"That'll rot your teeth out," growled Luke. But then she gave him her puppy dog pout. "Okay fine, but I'm adding some strawberries."

"But it's December. How can you have strawberries?"

Luke shrugged. "I just have a good fruit and vegetable supplier that's all." He went to the kitchen and gathered everything he needed.

"Who?" Lorelai sat down in a chair and hugged her knees to her chest.

"His name is Jackson Belleville."

"Well, do you think I could hire him? Or that Mia could? Our last produce supplier quit and now we've been buying from Doose's."

"Uh, yeah, sure. He actually lives here in town and has his own greenhouses." Luke made the batter. He made some pancakes for himself without the chocolate chips. Rory came in and asked if she could help.

Rory helped stir in the chocolate chips and Luke told her how to put onto the frying pan and when to turn the pancakes over. A few minutes later the pancakes and coffe were ready. Well Lorelai drank the coffee while Rory and Luke drank orange juice. After breakfast all three of them got ready for their day. Later that afternoon they headed over to Will and Kelly's and celebrated Christmas with them. After opening more gifts the five of them sat around the dining room table and had lunch.

"So, Lorelai, I'm sure you're ready for June to get here now," said Kelly.

Lorelai took a sip of her water. "Yes, I am. But Luke and I still need to find a photographer." Lorelai took a bite of her food and chewed. The other week Rachel had declined on the job. She had called Lorelai and told her that because she still had strong feelings for Luke she couldn't photograph the wedding. "And we have our cake picked out. But Sookie wants us to start coming in for tastings a few weeks before the wedding."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, she's the assistant chef and she wants to do the whole wedding for free."

"What flavor is the cake?" asked Will. Will was going to Luke's best man in the wedding and the two of them needed to go shopping for their tuxes.

"It's going to be chocolate," answered Lorelai.

"Chocolate?" asked Kelly.

Lorelai nodded. "Yep. I made Luke go for the chocolate." Lorelai grinned. "My mom won't approve but she'll just have to deal."

Something that Lorelai had said earlier registered with Kelly. She looked from her son to Lorelai and back again. "Wait, you don't have a photographer? You need to go ahead and get one so you can get your bridal portraits done. Besides we'll need a picture of you in your dress to run in the paper the week you two get married announcing your marriage. You know you could ask Rachel."

"She said no, Mom," answered Luke. "I asked her a few weeks ago and she thought about it and said no."

Kelly contemplated that. She understood what would make Rachel say no instead of yes. But had she made the right decision. It put Luke and Lorelai in a tough spot. Even though Luke had plenty of money saved up he had told her and Will that he wanted to save that money to either buy a bigger house one day down the road or build a house. And Lorelai barely had enough money. She had enough to pay bills and buy groceries and that was about it. "Well, if you two end up going with one of Emily's photographers, your father and I will be glad to pay for it." She held up a hand when she saw Luke about to protest. "Luke, you and Lorelai are trying to save money to one day get a bigger house. The least your dad and I can do is help out with the wedding by paying for some things. We have plenty of money. Probably not as much as Emily and Richard but we get by well." She looked from Luke and Lorelai. "Just think about it."

Luke nodded. "Okay, we'll think about it and let you know what we've decided." He looked at Lorelai. "When do your parents get back?"

"Um, after New Year's I believe. Mom and I have another meeting on the fifth. They get back on the third." Lorelai looked at Will and Kelly. "I'll talk to Mom about the photographers she can get us and Luke and I will let you know."

"That sounds good," said Kelly.

"Yeah," said Will, pitching in. "We don't mind helping out just a little bit. We know that wedding can be expensive even when you have a budget."

So it was settled. As soon as Lorelai could talk to her mother in a week and a half she would ask about the best photographers. Lorelai decided she wanted to go for the one that was the best but at the same time not too expensive. How hard could it be to find the best photographer for a cheap price? Lorelai would soon find out.


	22. Chapter 22

On New Year's Eve, Lorelai conned Luke into going to the party at Miss Patty's dance Studio. Almost everyone they knew in town was there. Rory was spending the night with Lane so they didn't have to worry about her. As soon as they got to the party Lorelai went straight for the punch.

Luke followed not sure where she was headed until they were at the punch bowl. He grabbed her arm and pulled away. "That stuff will kill you," he warned her.

"Luke, it will not," said Lorelai giving him her famous pout. "Besides I've had it before."

"You have? Where?"

"At the Founder's Day festival, silly." She crossed her arms and glared at him. Then she relaxed and leaned into him. "Okay, I won't drink the punch, I promise. You're just lucky that there is also Sprite and Ginger Ale. And that you're hard to resist." She went back to the punch table and grabbed a bottle of Sprite and poured some into a plastic cup.

They made the rounds talking to everyone. Luke would grumble incoherent words when asked something. He didn't want to be here. He'd rather be curled up in bed next to Lorelai sleeping. Well doing more than sleeping. But he had promised that they could stay at least an hour and then they'd be going home. But then Lorelai came up to him and said she wanted to stay until midnight and he reluctantly agreed. Around 11:30 he went outside and sat on the steps. He looked up at the stars. It was such a clear night that he could see every star. He then sent up a silent prayer to God thanking him for letting him and Lorelai find each other and finally be a family. Close to midnight Lorelai came out and sat down beside him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked him leaning into him. He smelled really good tonight.

"Just thanking God for letting us find each other again," he answered. He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

Lorelai kissed him back. "I'm guessing you're still not a big party person."

Luke laughed and shook his head. "How'd you know?"

"Well, you never liked going to every party I dragged you to," she told him. "But you did it to make me happy."

"I'd do anything that makes you happy," he declared.

"Good to know." Lorelai looked up at the sky. She could smell snow. "It's going to snow."

"How do you know?" asked Luke.

"I just do." She leaned her head against his shoulder and breathed deeply. "You know, tonight reminds me of the night Rory was conceieved. It was a beautiful night."

"Yeah, and it was also cold," he reminded her. "You wanted to be outside on your balcony."

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, that might have been too much cause we came in soon after."

"I think we were also drunk that night too. Good thing your parent's were gone and that the maid had been fired," said Luke.

Lorelai let that comment slide and looped her arm through Luke's. She looked up at the sky. "You can see so many stars tonight."

"Mmm, yeah you can. It's proof that God exists," Luke whispered.

"Sure is. He's been so good to us. Maybe spending ten years apart was all in his plan for us."

"What do you mean?"

Lorelai gazed into Luke's eyes. "Well you know in Jeremiah 29 it says that God has good plans for everyone? Plans to give them a hope and a future and not harm them? Well, maybe that was part of his plan. We did find each other so God worked a miracle that day in June."

Luke let her words sink in. And he knew that she was right. "Have you been reading the Bible?" he questioned. He was trying to tease but at the same time be serious.

Lorelai grinned and nodded. "Every night before I go to bed I read a few chapters and spend some time talking to God." She pointed up at the sky. "I feel so blessed knowing that I'm His."

"What do you tell Him?"

Lorelai flashed him a smile. "Sorry, that's between me and God."

"But I'm your fiance."

"Okay, fine. I just thank Him for every single day and everything he's blessed me with. You, Rory, this town, Mia, Sookie, your parents...even my parents. And then I ask Him to bless me the next day. Or more like give me a day that He would be glad to bless."

They were quiet for a minute as they listened to the countdown of the new year. When the countdown was finished Lorelai leaned closer to Luke and whispered, "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year," he whispered back. He took her face in his hands and kissed her long and sweet, his fingers working into her hair. When they pulled apart they were both breathless. "You ready to go home?"

Lorelai nodded and the two of them went home spending the night in each others arms and celebrating the new year.


	23. Chapter 23

A few days later Lorelai was at her parents house listening to her mother going on about more wedding details. Such as since the reception was going to be held outside on the lawns of the Independence Inn to be sure there were tents. And to plan on moving the reception inside if it rained. Lorelai already knew this of course. After all she worked at the Inn and as event coordinator she knew what to do just in case something doesn't go as planned.

Finally Lorelai interrupted. She needed information on a good photographer. "Mom?"

Emily looked up. "Yes, Lorelai?"

Lorelai bit her lip. How could she ask this? "Uh, Luke and I need a photographer. We thought his ex-girlfriend would be able to do it but she turned it down because she says she still has feelings for Luke." She took a deep breath. "His parent's have offered to pay for the photographer. However Luke and I both want a photographer who is really good but also cheap."

Emily stared at her daughter. She quickly recovered and rifled through her notes on some of the best photographers in Hartford. "Well, it's quite impossible to find a cheap photographer but I do believe I have someone here who isn't that expensive. The photographers I know of are about a thousand dollars for a wedding and for a bridal portrait it's about five hundred dollars." Emily found what she was looking for. "Here it is. Her names is Ashley Blake and she charged $500 dollars to photograph a wedding and $250 for a bridal portrait."

Lorelai grinned. Finally a good photographer who didn't charge a lot. "That sounds reasonable. Especially since Luke and I don't want anything to expensive. I'll talk to Luke and his parents and we'll let you know."

Emily handed Lorelai a business card. "How about you call her once you decide?" She looked at something she had written down. "What kind of flowers are you thinking about?"

"Um, I'm thinking yellow daisies for the centerpieces and for the bouquets I thougt I'd go with some roses. Maybe pink and white." Lorelai hesitated. "Why?"

"I was just wondering. There is a wonderful florist here in Hartford who does beautiful work. I've actually used them for some functions and parties. I could give you the number."

Lorelai shook her head. "We have a florist in Stars Hollow Mom and they're willing to give us a discount since they know us."

"Oh. Well then the flowers you've decided on sound good to me. But I think you should also go with roses for the centerpieces," said Emily. "Now what about the menu?"

Lorelai knew what they would be serving. She and Luke had talked it over and had decided to have a sitdown dinner after all. Then they could have dancing after dinner. "Well, we're going with a sitdown dinner. And Sookie and the head chef at the inn are going to start off with some appetizers like cheese and crackers and then we'll have just a garden salad followed with steak and lobster. We're going with a sort of surf and turf thing. Luke and I both love the beach and since we can't get married at the beach we'd bring food from the beach to us. We'll also have some baked potatoes and rolls to go along with it. And then we'll have our wedding cake and cupcakes."

Emily nodded. "I think that seems good. I'm glad you're going with a sitdown dinner, that's a wise choice. What kind of cake are you having?"

"Oh, just a simple wedding cake with buttercream frosting." Lorelai blew at her hair to get it out of her face.

"So a white cake?"

"Uh, no, we're going with chocolate." There let her mother have a field day with that information.

"Why chocolate? That's not appropriate for a wedding cake, Lorelai. Wedding cakes are always a vanilla cake with white frosting of fondant. Chocolate cake is what you'd have at a birthday. Not a wedding."

Lorelai sighed. "Mom, please. This is my wedding. I do get to have a say in what I want for my wedding don't I?"

Emily opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. Lorelai was right. They were at least getting along better than they had been and Emily didn't want to ruin it. She was so glad that Lorelai was counting on her to help with wedding details. She could tell Lorelai had to work to remain calm and not lose her cool at these meetings. "You're right, it is your wedding and you deserve anything you want." She looked at her watch. "Why don't we call it a day? You can go on home and talk to Luke about the photographer."

Lorelai smiled and gather her things. "Thanks Mom."

When Lorelai got back to Stars Hollow she headed to the diner. When she entered she was surprised to see it empty. Luke was standing behind the counter. Luke smiled when he saw her and got her a cup of coffee. "How was the meeting with your mom?"

"It surprising well. She didn't like the fact that our wedding cake is going to be chocolate and she was glad we went with the sitdown dinner. Oh and I found us a photographer." She pulled out the business card. "Her name is Ashley Blake and she only charges five hundred dollars to photograph a wedding. And $250 for bridal portraits. Oh! That reminds me, if we use her we need to set up an appointment to get our pictures taken."

"Pictures? Of us?" asked Luke.

Lorelai nodded as she took a sip of the warm coffee. "Yeah, of us, and maybe the two of us with Rory, and you with Rory, and me with Rory. We'll need a picture of us at the wedding for the guests to sign."

"Why would they sign a picture?"

"They don't sign the picture there's space around the picture for guest to sign their names and wish us luck in our marriage and say congratulations."

"Oh, well, okay. We can use that photographer. We'll tell my parents and then schedule an appointment to get the pictures done," said Luke. He wiped off the counter.

"Okay, where is everyone?" asked Lorelai looking around the empty diner. "I have never seen it this empty."

Luke shrugged. "It happens. Just the afternoon lull."

"Oh." She took another sip of coffee. "So I guess I'll call today and set up an appointment with Ashley."

"That'd be good," answered Luke. "What do you want for dinner tonight?"

Lorelai thought for a minute. "How 'bout roast beef? With mashed potatoes?"

"And green beens," finished Luke. He really wanted Lorelai to start eating healthier.

"For Rory yes," said Lorelai.

"You gotta try 'em too," said Luke.

She pouted. "Fine, but I won't like it."

That evening the three of them had dinner together. And Lorelai made sure to at least try everything Luke had fixed even if she didn't like it very much. After dinner Lorelai called the photographer. Since she was busy throught the months of January and February Lorelai made an appointment in March for the family portraits and one the week after that for her bridal portraits.


	24. Chapter 24

The weeks went by and Valentine's Day was coming up. Luke wanted to take Lorelai somewhere special. It was there first Valentine's Day together in more than ten years and it had to be romantic and special. Luckily he still had a couple weeks before that day. He consulted with his parent's, Lorelai's parent's and Rory on what Lorelai would like. Of course his parent's and Richard and Emily didn't know. Rory said that Lorelai loved the beach and horses. So Luke thought and thought. Then he talked to Sookie about Lorelai's favorite foods and of couse she said junk food.

Finally Luke decided he would just surprise Lorelai. He asked the Gilmores to get a house at Martha's Vineyard for a few days and they agreed. Then he decided that he and Lorelai could go horseback riding. Or that she could. And he decided he would make her dinner: steak, and baked potatoes and a salad and rolls. On the twelfth he told Lorelai to pack for a few days and he loaded up his truck with their suitcases.

"Okay, Mister, tell me. Where are we going?" she asked. She leaned up against the door of his truck and grinned at him.

"Sorry, can't tell you. It's a surprise," he told her smirking.

"You're mean!" said Lorelai teasing him. She settled into the seat and an hour later she was asleep. She woke up when they passed the sign saying that they were in Martha's Vineyard. She gasped and looked over at Luke. "We're going to Martha's Vineyard?"

"Yep," replied Luke.

"You planned all this?"

"Yep," he repeated.

Lorelai smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. "Have I told you lately that I love you?"

"You tell me that every day," said Luke. "And I love you too."

Lorelai was quiet the rest of the ride to the house. She helped Luke carry in their things and put them away. Rory was staying with Lane while they were gone. She couldn't miss any school. Well she could have, but Rory was dead set against going to Martha's Vineyard. She wanted to have perfect attendance this year.

The rest of the day Lorelai and Luke spent the day together. On Monday Luke went to the store to stock up the refrigerator for what they would need for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Tuesday was Valentine's Day. Luke and Lorelai found a place where they could ride a couple horses and that's what they did. That afternoon when they got back to the house Luke pulled out the steaks and potatoes. Since it was warm outside he decided to grill the steaks outside. He told Lorelai to go put on her favorite dress and that dinner would be ready at six.

Finally dinner was ready. When Lorelai entered the kitchen she saw the table. Luke had found a tablecloth and some candles. When he saw her he smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day," he said. He handed her a dozen red roses, a box of chocolates, and a card.

Lorelai teared up. "Oh, Luke, this is beautiful." She was speechless. And surprised. She couldn't believe that Luke had planned all this. "How'd you do all this?"

"Well, I asked your parent's and mine what you liked the most. Of course they didn't really know and couldn't tell me. Then I asked Rory and she said how much you love the beach and horses. And then I asked Sookie what your favorite foods were, besides all that junk food you eat," explained Luke.

"Luke, I love it," she said. She leaned over and kissed him. They ate dinner talking about work, and the wedding. They then retreated to the bedroom where they spent the night making love.

That Thursday they came back home. Rory was so excited to see her parents.

"Mom! Dad!" she exclaimed when they came to get her after school. "How was your trip?" Of course she knew what her dad had planned but she didn't want her mom to know. At least not yet.

Lorelai smiled at her daughter. "It was wonderful. We rode horses on Tuesday and he made me dinner."

Rory said nothing. She just started walking to the diner ahead of her parents. Lorelai looked at Luke and then at Rory. "She knew, didn't she?"

Luke nodded. "Of couse she knew. Well she knew I was taking you to Martha's Vineyard and about the horses and the dinner." He took her hand in his and they followed Rory.

"Huh, she usually can't keep a secret from me, at least not for long," said Lorelai.

A few weeks later the three of them went to their scheduled photoshoot. They got pictures taken of the three of them as a family, then Rory and Luke, Rory and Lorelai, and finally Lorelai and Luke. The photographer, Ashley, said that it would take a couple weeks to get the pictures developed. The following week Lorelai went back to get pictures taken of her in her wedding dress.

Lorelai couldn't wait until June third. If she could have her way she would go ahead and marry Luke that day. But that wouldn't be fair to their parent's or the town. When she got home that evening she found Luke and Rory in the kitchen cooking. At first she thought she was seeing things because first of all her daughter didn't cook and second of all Rory didn't even know how to cook.

"Okay, who took Rory and replaced her with someone that looks like her that can cook?" she asked them.

"Hey, Mom!" said Rory. She was stirring something in a pot on the stove.

Lorelai came closer and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Whatcha cooking?" she asked them.

"We're making spaghetti," answered Rory grinning. She frowned. "Actually Dad is making spaghetti, he'd letting me help though."

"Well, that's good that you're helping," said Lorelai. She gave Luke a hug and kissed his cheek. "Hi, honey."

"Hey," said Luke. "Dinner should be ready in a few minutes." He noticed the garment bag Lorelai held. "You had that photograph thing today didn't you?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, the pictures should be ready sometime next week. Ashley said she'd call as soon as they were ready." She held up the garment bag. "I'm just going to hang this up and I'll be back down." She hung the garment bag in the back of her closet and changed out of her work clothes into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She went back down to the kitchen and saw that Rory was setting the table.

"Dinner's ready, Mom," said the ten year old.

Lorelai smiled and grabbed forks and knives and napkins as Luke set the bowls of spagetti and meat sauce on the table. "You want Parmesan cheese?" she asked Rory.

Rory nodded. "Of course."

Lorelai grabbed it from the fridge and then grabbed three glasses from the cabinet and filled them with ice. She found a pitcher of tea in the fridge and poured some into the glasses. Finally the three of them sat down around the table. Rory prayed for their dinner and then they started eating. Luke and Lorelai discussed the wedding and Rory filled them in on what was going on at school and what was going on with Lane. For the wedding Lorelai had changed her mind about Rory being the flower girl. She was almost eleven so now Rory was going to be a junior bridesmaid. Lorelai had a cousin on her mother's side of the family that she was close to. They had kept in touch over the years and when Lorelai told her cousin, Caroline said that she knew who could be the perfect flower girl.

"Who?" Lorelai had asked.

"My daughter, Carrie Ann," her cousin had said.

So Lorelai had discussed it with Luke and Rory and they both thought it was a good idea. Carrie Ann was four and was ecstatic about being the flower girl. And her little brother who was three was going to be the ring bearer. Lorelai couldn't believe how quickly the wedding was approaching. Some days it felt like it would never get here and other days she felt as if each day was going by so quickly. Soon she would be Lorelai Danes and she couldn't wait to spend the rest of her life with Luke.


	25. Chapter 25

March drew to a close and April quickly passed by. The wedding plans were done. Lorelai and Luke had a photographer, the inn was doing the catering, and they had the flowers and rings and the colors all picked out. It was now the middle of May. And only a few weeks until the wedding. Right now, Lorelai was at a wedding shower. Actually she and Luke were at _their _wedding shower. Emily had put it together and it was a formal party.

Lorelai sipped her champagne while Luke stood beside her and looked into his. He hated champagne. "Do I have to drink this?" he asked her.

Lorelai offered him a sympathetic smile. "Uh, I don't know." She looked around at the two dozen guests and the waiters passing by with trays of champagne and food. She knew no one at this party. Luckily Emily had invited Will and Kelly but the four of them all huddled together. Lorelai wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to leave with Luke and get home to Rory but she knew they couldn't leave because this was their party.

"How much longer do we have to stay?" he asked her. He hated parties, more than dressing up for one.

Lorelai peeked at her watch. "I guess another hour or so. Let Mom serve dessert and after that we can leave. Or make an escape at least." She took his hand. "I _am _sorry I couldn't get us out of this," she said for what felt like the millionth time. She had repeated said it on the way to her parent's and as they were getting ready.

Luke offered a smile. Or at least he tried. "It's okay," he said. "I'll deal with it. Besides how long can one party last.?"

Well the party lasted until eleven. At eight, Emily and Richard thanked their guests for coming to celebrate their daughter's upcoming wedding. Lorelai and Luke got many congratulations and then it got weird. Lorelai was talking to someone and he pulled out his checkbook.

"How much should I write it for?" he asked her, pulling out a pen.

"Uh, I don't know. Shouldn't you ask one of your friends?" asked Lorelai. She figured it was for charity or something. After all, her parents always went to many functions where donating money was expected.

The man laughed. Lorelai couldn't remember his name. "Well how about five?" he asked her, writing the amount on the blank check.

Lorelai's eyes widened when she saw the amount. _Five thousand dollars._ And then she realized the money wasn't for some charity. It was for her and Luke. Lorelai couldn't breathe. Why would her parents think she and Luke needed money? Lorelai had a steady job and Luke barely spent money on anything. "Wait, this money is for me?" she asked the man.

"Well, yes, it's a tradition around here," said the man. "I know what you're thinking. That you don't need our money, but it could help you and your fiance buy a nice house or a new car."

Lorelai couldn't believe it. She noticed the pile of money in the basket by the door and headed to the den. The guests were still waiting for dessert to be served. "Everyone, please, you don't need to give me and Luke money. We don't need it. We have a house and good jobs." She was angry. How could her parents do this to her? To Luke.

Emily came up to her. "Lorelai," she hissed, "please. This isn't about you and Luke. It's what everyone does. You're being rude to our friends."

"You mean _your _friends, Mom," Lorelai hissed. She walked away to find Luke who was outside with his parents. "Come on, we're leaving." Lorelai headed back inside towards the front door grabbing her purse.

Luke quickly followed her out to the truck but they were blocked in. Lorelai managed to get inside unseen and up to her old bedroom. "Lorelai what's going on?" asked Luke closing the door.

"This party is for us, Luke."

"Yeah, I know, we got some gifts downstairs," said Luke.

"No, I mean this party is for people to give us money, Luke. We don't need money Luke."

"Okay, I don't see the problem. We can always use a little extra money, right?"

Lorelai sighed. She didn't want to fight with Luke. "Luke, we both make plenty of money. Well, you make more than me and you definitely have more in the bank than I do," she said, starting to pace the room. "But we don't need their money! Everytime we see them I'll feel like we need to pay them back or something and I really don't want that." Tears threatend to spill down her face and she blinked them back.

"But we could put that money away for something. Like, I don't know, help pay for college for Rory, or for when we buy a house," said Luke, thinking out loud.

She turned on him. "Who says we're going to buy a house?" she snapped at him. "We have a house. _My _house, that I bought last year!"

Luke bit his lip. "Okay, I know we have a house, but Lorelai, when we start having more kids, that house is going to get cramped. We'll need a bigger place depending on how many kids you want to have."

Lorelai crossed her arms and went to him. "I'm sorry," she said burying her face in his chest. "I guess I'm just angry that my parents did this. I didn't mean to take it out on you." She wrapped her arms around his neck. She pulled away and smiled. "Come here," she said taking his hand. She lead him to the window and opened it which lead out to a balcony.

"What are we doing?" asked Luke.

Lorelai shrugged. "I don't know, exactly." She sat down on the cold cement. "I should always remember to bring a blanket." She looked at Luke. "This was the only spot I loved in this house. Of course I couldn't really enjoy it while I was pregnant. You try climbing in and out a window with a huge stomach." She grinned at him when he sat next to her. "But after Rory was born I'd come out and sit here at night and look at the stars. Because I just knew that wherever you were that you were doing the same thing." The tears came this time and she let them. "Why did it take us so long to find each other, Luke? Why?"

Luke wrapped his arms around her and held her close. "I don't know. I wish I knew, but I don't. I regret not standing up to my parents then and letting them know that I had to be with you no matter what. Maybe we should have just run off together back then. But we can't change the past, Lorelai."

Lorelai sniffed and dried her eyes. "I know." She heard cars and people start to leave. They were silent for a few minutes. "I think the coast is clear." She started climbing down the tree next to the balcony.

"Lorelai!" hissed Luke. "Are you crazy? You'll get hurt."

Lorelai glared at him. "Luke, if you want to escape the Gilmore house, then you have to climb down the tree. It's the only way we can get out of here without my parents seeing us. They'll be downstairs harassing the cleanup crew. Come on." She made it down and started towards Luke's truck. She heard Luke climbing down behind her and smiled when he reached her.

"You're crazy you know that?"

"Yes, but you love me anyway. So that makes you crazy too," she shot back.

"Oh, boy," muttered Luke, starting the truck.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: So I'm working on a sequel to this story. Problem is I don't have a good title. So suggestions for a title would be awesome. Read and Reveiw!**

It was finally June third. Lorelai woke up and when she found Luke not by her side she freaked out. But then she remembered. It was her wedding day! She was finally going to be Mrs. Luke Danes. Lorelai crawled out of bed yawning. It was seven in the morning and she needed some coffee. She headed downstairs and found Sookie and Rory in the kitchen. Sookie was making egg white omelets and bacon.

"Hey, sugar," said Sookie. "There's coffee in the pot. You've got good timing."

"Hi, Sook," said Lorelai. "Morning sweet pea."

"Hi, Mom," said Rory tiredly. She wasn't a morning person either.

"Okay breakfast is ready!" declared Sookie setting everything on the table. "We need to eat quickly because we need to be at the church at eight."

"Why so early?" whined Lorelai.

"Because that's what time your mother told us to get there. She said the hairdresser is coming at nine. We all need to be dressed by then and ready to get our hair done and then pictures are at ten over at the inn."

After a hurried breakfast the girls headed over to the church to the bridal room. Emily was already there. "You're late," she said to Lorelai.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Mom, it's only one minute after eight. Rory and I needed showers and we had to eat breakfast. You don't want me passing out when I'm walking down the aisle now do you?"

Emily sighed. Her daughter was a piece of work. "No I guess not." She looked at her watch. "You three better get your dresses on fast. My hairdresser is going to be here soon and you need to be ready to leave for the inn by the time she's done." Emily was already dressed and had had her hair done the day before when the girls had gone to get their nails done for the wedding.

After getting dressed the hairdresser showed up. Lorelai got her hair curled and pinned back halfway. She hadn't wanted a big fancy updo like her mother had suggested. Rory and Sookie both got their hair straightened and pulled back as well. Finally the limo came to take them to the inn where they spent a few hours taking pictures. They had to get pictures of Lorelai with Rory and Sookie, Lorelai with Emily, and Sookie with Rory, Rory with Emily and then Lorelai with Emily and Rory. Then the photographer went to get Richard and had them repeat the process with Lorelai and Richard, then with Lorelai, Richard, and Emily, and then the three of them with Rory. After that they were done. As the Lorelai, Sookie, and Emily headed inside, the photographer, Ashley, had someone get Luke so he could get his picture taken with Rory.

At ten till two, everyone was at the church ready for the moment. Richard came in and told Emily she needed to get to their seat. He stopped the moment he saw Lorelai in her dress. "Lorelai, you look beautiful," he said. He never thought he'd see this day happen after what had happened but now he was going to.

Lorelai beamed. She smoothed the wrinkles out of her dress when she stood. "Thanks, Dad. I guess it's time to get ready now, huh?"

"Yes, it is."

Lorelai linked her arm through her father's and then they headed to the doors that would open to the sanctuary. Carrie Ann and her little brother Ryan got in line first followed by Rory, then Sookie and then Lorelai and Richard. When the music started everyone started down the aisle. Finally the music for Lorelai and Richard started and they made their way down the aisle. She looked at Luke and the sight of him in his tux made her breathless. She loved how handsome he looked all dressed up, but she loved the man who wore the flannel and jeans and backwards cap more.

The ceremony lasted about fifteen minutes. Lorelai couldn't believe how quickly it went. She heard the reverend ask, "Who gives this woman to be married?" and her father's answer of "Her mother and I do." She heard the preacher ask for the rings and for them to say their vows and then they were announced husband and wife. When they shared a kiss Lorelai felt like it was all a dream. They walked up the aisle towards the doors of the church. Outside, everyone lined up on the walkway when they came out after taking some pictures of the wedding party.

As they stopped outside to take pictures, Luke leaned in and whispered, "We're finally married."

Lorelai smiled. "I know. I keep thinking it's all a dream and that I'm going to wake up and realize we're not married."

"I know, I feel the same way," replied Luke. He gave her a kiss which made everyone applaud. He lead her to the waiting limo that would take them to the inn for their reception.

At the inn as soon as Lorelai, Luke, Rory, Sookie, Jess, and Will, Kelly, Richard, Emily, Liz and Jess showed up, Ashley the photographer got them set up to take the necessary pictures while the guests arrived. After the pictures were taken the wedding party headed to the tent set up for the reception. Everyone was getting a plate and filling it with chees, crackers, and grapes and apples.

Lorelai and Luke made the rounds, thanking everyone for coming. After that they went over to the buffet table to snack on the food before dinner was served. After about thirty minutes, the head chef came out and announced that dinner would be served and asked everyone to get to their seats. Lorelai and Luked headed to the table in the center of the tent. The table was reserved for the wedding party.

As soon as everyone was seated, the waiters served the salad. Lorelai leaned over to Luke. "Wanna tell me where we're going on our honeymoon?" she whispered. Luke had taken care of the wedding details and all he told her was to pack shorts and tank tops and flip flops, plenty of sunscreen and her bathing suits. Lorelai suspected that he was taking her to the beach but dismissed that idea since it didn't sound very honeymoonish.

"No way," Luke whispered back. "Not a chance."

The reception was a hit. Everyone seemed to be having fun and Lorelai and Luke's family and friends seemed to be hitting it off. Dinner was a success also. After everyone ate everyone started milling around talking. Several people told Luke and Lorelai that the dinner was excellent. Lorelai's old high school friend and college roommate came over.

"Lorelai!" said Daphne Delaney. She hugged Lorelai. "I'm so glad that you and Luke are together again. You always regretted not being able to find him."

Lorelai hugged her friend. "Thanks Daph. And it is good to be married to Luke after all these years."

"I'm sure it is. I could always tell how much you loved him when you talked about him," said Daphne.

Just then the DJ announced that it was time for Luke and Lorelai's first dance as husband and wife. When the song began Luke pulled her close. Lorelai breathed in the scent of his cologne. "Okay, mister, when did you learn to dance?" she asked. "In high school you always told me that you couldn't dance."

Luke grinned. "I'm a compulsive liar," he said. "I guess I've just always known how, I just didn't like to."

"Do you not like it right now?" she asked worried. "I mean it is our wedding day and it's customary for the bride and groom to dance together."

Luke shook his head. "I'm enjoying this. I'm enjoying every second of this day. After all, you only get married once."

"Or twice in our case," said Lorelai smiling.

When the song was over, Richard came over. "Do I get a turn?" he asked his daughter.

Lorelai grinned. "Of course you do, Daddy," she said going over to him.

For a minute they danced in silence. "Lorelai, you are a beautiful bride," said Richard.

"You already told me that Dad. But thank you." Lorelai kissed her dad on the cheek.

"I know you weren't too happy about the party the other week," began Richard.

"No I wasn't."

"Do you and Luke plan on moving to another house if you have more kids?"

"Um, I don't know. We've talked about adding on to the house we're in right now. There's enough room upstairs for at least two more bedrooms and we have an attic too," said Lorelai. She and Luke had already started work on adding those two bedrooms upstairs and converting the attic to a bedroom/playroom.

Richard nodded. "Okay, but if you two ever decide to move, your mother and I bought you a house. We'll hold onto it for you and Luke. And if you two don't want it we can keep it for Rory and whoever she marries."

Lorelai considered the offer. "How many bedrooms does it have?" she asked.

"It has six bedrooms and a library which I'm sure Rory would love. There's also a home office which you and Luke can use, a living room, kitchen, and a dining room. It's here in Stars Hollow actually. I knew you'd like that."

Lorelai thought about it. She and Luke definitely wanted more kids in a few years. And having a bigger house with more room would be good. "Let me talk to Luke," she told her father. "If he's up to it, we'll come talk to you and Mom."

Richard smiled down at his daughter. He couldn't believe his little girl was married. "Well, that's all I ask."

The song ended and the DJ invited everyone out on the dance floor. The reception lasted until past nine. Luke and Lorelai cut the cake when everyone got tired of dancing. And of course everyone got excited when Lorelai threw her bouquet for all the women and when Luke took off her garter. Since they didn't have to leave until the morning to go on their honeymoon, Lorelai had booked them a room. Rory was going home with Will and Kelly for the week while they would be gone.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Sorry for a long wait! I moved and I've been working a lot and went to the beach. And if anyone has a good idea for the title of the sequel let me know!**

Soon people started leaving one by one. Or at least the families who had young children with them. Most of the out of towners were staying at the inn that night. Luke and Lorelai made their way through the crowd of people that were congratulating them, and up the back steps of the Independence Inn. They headed up to their own room upstairs. Lorelai had booked them the Honeymoon Suite for that night. "So what do you think?" she asked him when he opened the door to their room.

Luke took in the room. It was very big with a king size bed a mini bar. "Uh, it's very big."

Lorelai laughed. "Of course it is, silly. It's the honeymoon suite." She closed the door behind him and took off her veil and threw it into the chair near the bed. Then she slipped off her high heels. She headed for the bathroom. The bobby pins the hairdresser had stuck into her hair were hurting her head.

"Where are you going?" asked Luke. He took off his shoes and untied his bowtie.

"To the bathroom. I need to get these bobby pins out of my hair," she answered. In the bathroom she took out the bobby pins and shook out her hair. Then she headed back into the room. She was ready to get out of her wedding dress after being in it all day. But she knew Luke wanted to take it off himself.

Luke took her into his arms. "Have I told you how beautiful you are?" He kissed her forehead.

Lorelai smiled. "Only about a million times," she whispered. "And you looked really handsome today."

Luke groaned. He had hated wearing the tux. "I'm ready to take it off," he complained.

"I feel the same way with this dress," agreed Lorelai. "I love it and all, but wearing it for more than twelve hours is a long time."

They took their time making love that night. The next morning they headed out for their honeymoon destination. The ride started out in silence. Lorelai looked out the window watching the scenery. Or the lack of one. There were so many trees lining the sides of the interstate it was quite boring. Finally Lorelai turned to Luke. She leaned up against the door. "So where are we are going?" she asked him.

Luke smirked. "I'm not telling you. The whole point of me picking out where we go for our honeymoon was for it to be a surprise."

"Oh, right," said Lorelai disappointed. She had a feeling that they were going to the beach. She was still trying to figure out which beach though. She was silent for a few minutes as Luke stopped to fill up on gas. Or did his truck take diesel fuel? She wrestled with the thoughts in her head. She wanted to go ahead and have a baby but at the same time she wanted to wait a couple years before having the second one. While Luke was inside paying she went back and forth on the baby issue with herself. When Luke returned and they got back on the road she decided to ask what he thought. "Luke?"

"Yeah?" he answered. He passed a tractor trailer that was going a little slow.

Lorelai bit her lip not sure how to begin this conversation. They hadn't really talked about this much. Every time someone asked when the next baby would arrive they always said they were going to wait a while. "You want another baby right?" she asked.

Luke looked over at her. He still couldn't believe she was his wife. Well she had been for the past eleven years but this time it was for real. "Of course I do. I thought we agreed to wait a couple years."

"We've told people that, but Luke, we've never really discussed it," said Lorelai.

He knew she was right. After all, they told everyone in town that just so they would stop bugging them. But Rory was going to be eleven in October and if they waited a couple years she'd be thirteen by the time they had another baby, fourteen at the latest. "Yeah, I guess since we've been telling everyone that I just thought that's what you would want," he said. "We should talk about it. If you want a baby now that's fine. If you want to wait a year or two that's fine too. I want what you want."

Lorelai nodded. How did she get so lucky with Luke? He was her everything. "I think I kinda want one now."

"You think?" questioned Luke, glancing at her. "You're not sure? We need to be sure before we get pregnant."

Lorelai glared at him. "You mean _I _need to be sure, don't you?"

"I didn't mean it like that," said Luke. "I just meant that we need to be sure we want a baby before it happens."

Lorelai crossed her arms. She wasn't in the mood to have a fight with Luke. She looked out the window and sighed. "I know what you meant. And I am completely sure that I want to have a baby now."

Luke nodded. "Okay, then."

"Well?"

"I guess we get started on trying to get pregnant," said Luke. "Wait, you're not saying this because you're already pregnant are you?"

Lorelai shook her head. "No, of course not." Of course she wasn't. But what he didn't know was that she had thought she was the week before. But the test had turned out negative and she wasn't even late. She had been disappointed and took it out on a quart of chocolate ice cream.

Luke looked at her. He had the strangest feeling that she wasn't being honest about this. As soon he cast his eyes toward her, she averted hers and looked out the window. "Lorelai what's going on?"

She sniffed and swiped at her cheeks. She stared at the trees and signs flashing by. "I-I took a t-test last week," she stammered. "I thought I was pregnant but it was negative."

Luke didn't know what to say. He couldn't believe she thought she was pregnant. "Lorelai, I'm sorry." What else could he say?

Lorelai nodded. "I know," she whispered. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "Let's not worry about this right now. This week is about us and enjoying each other's company." She leaned against the door. "After the honeymoon we can talk more about this."

The whole week was filled with fun. Luke had ended up picking Harvey's Beach as their honeymoon destination. As kids they had spent their summers at that beach. They went out to lunch and dinner a few days but mostly they ate at the house. Of course Luke cooked. One day he tried teaching her how to cook and of course she was so frightened she almost set the kitchen on fire. So Luke banned Lorelai from the kitchen the rest of the week and she didn't mind. They always spent their days on the beach except for the one day it rained. They took a drive and hit up almost all the shops in the town. And Lorelai just had to get gifts for everyone back in Stars Hollow.

Lorelai couldn't wait to get back to Rory. She had never spent this much time away from her daughter before and she missed Rory like crazy.


	28. Chapter 28

The day Lorelai and Luke came home she made him stop by his parent's to pick up Rory. Lorelai had hated being away from Rory and had called every day morning, noon, and night. Luke had tried talking some sense into his wife but he hadn't succeeded. The moment they walked through his parent's front door Rory came running to them.

"Mommy!" she cried. "I missed you so much!"

Lorelai held back tears as she hugged her daughter. "I missed you too!"

Luke wasn't sure if he should be furious or if he should laugh. After all, Rory was only ten and not a little kid anymore. But he didn't want to tell Lorelai that. "Hey, I missed you too," he said teasing his daughter.

Rory hurried over to him and threw her arms around his waist. "Daddy I missed you just as much as Mom!"

Luke hugged Rory back and held on to her. He didn't want to admit it, but it had also killed him to be away from his only daughter for a week. They talked with his parent's before heading back to their house. They planned on telling Rory that night that they would be moving in the next few weeks. While they had been on their honeymoon Lorelai's parent's had sent them information on the house they had gotten as a wedding present. It was in Stars Hollow and was only five minutes from the diner and ten minutes from the inn.

When they got home Lorelai and Rory headed to the kitchen and Luke took the suitcases upstairs. When he came down he stood in the hallway and listened to their conversation.

"A whole sand dollar!" exclaimed Rory. "This is so cool, Mom!"

Luke could hear the smile in Lorelai's voice when she said, "Dad and I found it when we went walking on the beach one morning. I knew you would love it since we always look for whole sand dollars when we go to the beach."

"This is a perfect gift Mom," said Rory. "Although a baby sister would have been better."

Luke shook his head. That was all Rory could talk about for the past few months. He and Lorelai agreed that waiting a year or two before having another child was best. They wanted Rory to get used to the idea of her parents being married now. Luke decided that he should walk on into the kitchen. "So Mom gave you your present, huh?" he asked gesturing to the sand dollar on the table.

Rory nodded and thanked him too. "But I really want a baby sister. Or a brother I guess."

Lorelai looked at her husband. "Rory, honey, we're going to wait a year or two before we have a baby," she began before Rory cut her off.

"Why?" asked Rory. "You already had me and now you're finally married so why not?"

"Sweetie, it's not that simple." Lorelai sighed. "We need to get used to the fact that we're a family now before we have another baby in the house. A baby is a lot of work. They wake up in the middle of the night demanding to be fed or changed or both and they need a lot of attention those first few months."

Rory thought it over for a minute. Then she gave a firm nod. "That makes sense, I guess. But don't wait too long, okay?" She gave her mom a kiss and grabbed the phone saying she was going to call Lane.

Lorelai looked at Luke. "I believe our daughter just told us to not wait too long to have a baby." She looked slightly baffled at the thought.

Luke took her in his arms and kissed. "I think you handled that conversation pretty well. You didn't even need my help."

Lorelai made a silly face. "Then you can tell her about the wedding present from my parents."

Luke shook his head. "No way. You have to tell her too."

Since deciding to take the house they had no idea how to tell Rory about the move. Lorelai had only just moved to the house they were in now a year ago after finally saving up enough money to buy a house. Now they had two weeks to pack everything they wanted or needed to take over to the new house or put things in storage and go shopping for new furniture.

Rory came out of her room and noticed the silence filling the room. "Hey, Mom, can Lane spend the night?"

Lorelai turned around and faced her daughter. "Rory, Dad and I have something to tell you."

Rory looked at the both of them. "What's wrong?"

Lorelai laughed. "Nothing's wrong. It's just-." She didn't know how to begin. "You want a little brother or sister right?"

Rory nodded. "Yeah. So?"

"So this house is pretty small for three people. And just imagine what it'll be like with a baby." Lorelai took a deep breath and looked at Luke. "I mean, a baby needs a lot of things. A crib, bassinet, car seat, swing, stroller and much more."

"So?" asked Rory. She didn't see where this was going. "We could just add on couldn't we? There's room in the attic right?"

Luke shook his head. "What Mom is trying to say is, we're moving. Grandma and Grandpa brought a house for us and we've decided to take it."

Rory's brow furrowed. "But what about school? And Lane?"

Luke stifled a laugh. "Kid, the house is here in Stars Hollow. We're going over there tomorrow afternoon to look at it. You can even pick out which room you want."

Rory cocked her head. "Oh, well good. I wouldn't want to leave Stars Hollow."

The next afternoon the three of them headed over to the new house. The realtor met them there and gave them a tour. It was a two story house with a finished basement. On the main there was an office off the foyer and a dining room on the other side of the foyer. Down the hallway was the living room that led to the kitchen. Through the kitchen was a pantry and then the mudroom which led to the two garages. The master bedroom was next to the living room and included a bathroom. Upstairs were three bedrooms and each one had their own bathroom and a walk in closet. The basement included the fifth bedroom, an office, a covered terrace outside, a bar and wine storage which Lorelai and Luke decided they probably wouldn't use much. There was even a covered back porch on the main floor.

Rory picked out one of the two rooms that was the biggest upstairs. Luke promised her that as soon as they were settled he would build her some bookshelves for all the books she kept getting.

The next week and a half was spent packing up boxes that were going to go to the new house and what was going to be put in storage. Luke and Lorelai went to Hartford to the mall to pick out some new furniture. They picked out a new sofa with a matching love seat and chairs, and they got a desk for Rory and for the study.

Finally the day to move out of the house was here. The house was empty and both Lorelai and Rory were sad to leave. Well more Rory than Lorelai. Rory had loved their house since it was the first one they ever really lived in. Luke let his girls say goodbye to each room though he didn't really understand the need to do so. After saying goodbye to the house they piled into Luke's truck and headed over to the new one.

"We need a name for the new house," said Lorelai.

Rory nodded. "We do. But what should we call it?"

Luke looked over at them. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"The new house. It needs a name," said Lorelai.

"Ah, okay. Why?"

"Well Rory and I named the old one the Crap Shack and that would be bad for the new one."

Luke shook his head. He always knew how crazy Lorelai was. It was one of the things he loved about her. But now Rory was just like her mother in every way. "Houses don't need names."

"Sure they do. There are a lot of houses that have names," argued Lorelai.

"Name them," said Luke.

"Well there's the White House, and...and," said Lorelai. She couldn't think of another one.

"Ha! You could only think of one," said Luke.

Lorelai sighed. "That's not fair! I've only had one cup of coffee this morning since you insisted that we pack up Mr. Coffee Maker and leave. The caffeine is wearing off."

Rory looked at them both as they got out of the truck. "Can Lane come over and spend the night?"

Lorelai gave Luke a look. "Uh, probably not tonight, kid. We have to get settled and unpacked before Lane can spend the night okay?" She wrapped her arm around her daughter. "How about this? As soon as we get settled you, me and Lane can have a movie night. You know, Casablanca, The Way We Were, Willy Wonka, Beauty and The Beast, Cinderella, and of course a ton of junk food!"

Rory grinned. "I'd like that! And don't forget about Dad!"

Lorelai smiled. "No, we can't forget about Dad, can we?"

Luke grabbed some other boxes. "I don't think so," he replied carrying the boxes into the room they were for. "I'm not into those movies. Or junk food for that matter. The stuff will kill ya."

Rory hurried up to her room to finish unpacking and Lorelai and Luke took on separate rooms trying to get everything out of boxes. That night Lorelai asked Luke again. "Are you sure you don't want to have movie night with us once we're settled?"

Luke kissed her gently. "Yes. You and Rory should still be able to do things together now that we're married."

Lorelai nodded. "I'm sure she'd like that. But you know, she'd like doing things with you too."

"I'll keep that in mind next time I go fishing," he said seriously.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Sorry for being away so long! I just didn't know how to write this chapter! But here it is. Note: Reviews make me happy :)**

It didn't take long to get settled into the new house. Lorelai, Rory and Lane had the promised movie night and sleepover. The summer was coming to an end and the week before school started Lorelai and Rory were in town getting school supplies.

"So are you ready for sixth grade this year?" asked Lorelai as she grabbed a pack of pencils and crossing it off the list.

Rory nodded as she grabbed some pens and highlighters. "But I'm not ready for summer to be over either."

A month after the wedding the new family had taken a week to go to the beach together and had all had fun. Now it was the middle of August and time for school.

"I always felt the same way," agreed Lorelai. "But I loved school. It was the only place I could escape to." Lorelai had always been vague about her relationship with her parents when Rory was younger but now she felt like she could tell Rory about it. After all Rory was her best friend, besides Luke and Sookie.

"You mean to get away from Grandma and Grandpa?" asked Rory. Rory didn't see why her mom didn't like her parents. They were always nice to Rory, but maybe that was because she was their granddaughter.

Lorelai nodded grabbing some notebooks and erasers. "I've never had the best relationship with them. We always fought when I was in high school."

Once they had gotten everything Rory would need the two of them headed to the diner for lunch. Now that she and Luke were married they made it a point to have breakfast and dinner together at home as a family. At least on nights neither of them had to work late.

As soon as they sat down Miss Patty ambushed them. "Lorelai, I was just talking about you!"

"You were?" asked Lorelai. She smiled as Luke came over with food and sat down with them.

"Why of course! Babette and I were just betting on when you and Luke would have another baby." Patty smiled.

"Oh, boy," muttered Lorelai. "Patty, Luke and I _just _got married two months ago. We want to take our time and enjoy being married first."

Patty frowned. "Oh, well, you know you aren't getting any younger."

"Gee, thanks," said Lorelai sarcastically.

Luke stepped in. Earlier Kirk had been in asking when they thought they might have another kid. Apparently he thought that if they had another kid they needed a bigger car. "We're trying to eat here," said Luke, already irritated.

Patty apologized and went back to her table disappointed.

"Sorry about that," said Luke. "Apparently the town is taking a poll on when we have a baby."

Rory spoke up. "Why? I thought you were waiting?"

"We are sweetie," answered Lorelai. She turned to Luke. "I now feel pressured to have a baby. Oh the joys of living in a small town."

* * *

When Lorelai and Rory got home the phone was ringing. Lorelai answered just before the answering machine got it. "Hello?"

"Lorelai, it's your mother," said Emily.

"Hello, Mother."

"Next time you should really answer the phone before the machine gets it. I hate talking to the machine."

"I'm sorry, but Rory and I just got home from shopping for school supplies," said Lorelai sitting down as Rory took the bags to her room. Lorelai knew that Rory was going to spend some time organizing and reorganizing her backpack.

"Oh," said Emily. "Then maybe you should get on of those mobile phones."

"You mean a cell phone? I have one. I'm pretty sure I gave you the number. Is there a reason why you called?" asked Lorelai.

"Oh, yes. I was calling to invite you and Luke and Rory to dinner next Friday."

Lorelai hesitated. "Okay, what for?"

"No reason. We haven't seen you three since the wedding and I thought it would be nice to catch up," said Emily.

"Okay, well then, we'll be there. Seven right?"

"Yes. See you then. Goodbye."

Lorelai stared at the phone. Her mother was up to something. But what? When Luke got home later and they had had dinner Lorelai pulled him aside. "My mother called today. She invited us to dinner next Friday night.

"Okay." Luke saw her expression. "What? You don't want to go?"

"My mother is up to something. I just know it!"

"It's just dinner. I don't see anything wrong with that."

"Well, there is. My mother is clearly up to something," said Lorelai. But it looked like whatever her mother was up to she would find out next week. She just didn't think she could wait that long.


	30. Chapter 30

The weekend passed in a blur just like always. Sunday was church and an afternoon at the inn for Lorelai and at the diner for Luke. Monday was Rory's first day of middle school, even though it was only a half day. Now it was Friday again, the day of the big dinner with The Parents. Lorelai was scared and nervous and at the moment she was in the kitchen talking to Sookie.

"I just want to know what Emily is up to," she said pouring a cup of coffee.

"And what makes you so sure she's up to something?" asked Sookie.

"Because she had that tone the minute she said hello. Besides, it's Emily Gilmore. She's always up to something."

"Oh, well, if you say so. But I've met your mother and she was nice."

"Try living with her for sixteen years," said Lorelai. "I'm glad I got out of that house when I did. Rory was my chance at freedom."

"It couldn't have been all that bad," said Sookie.

"Really? The minute I said I was pregnant all my mother wanted to know was if I planned to give the baby up for adoption." _Of course so did Luke's mother, but I can't say that because everyone adores Luke's mother. Only Mia knows, _thought Lorelai.

"Oh, I never knew that," replied Sookie.

"Neither does anyone else. She never even through me a baby shower. Of course I was sixteen but still." Lorelai grabbed her coffee. "I gotta get back to work."

And that was how she spent the rest of her day. Contemplating what her mother could be up to. That evening the three of them were standing outside the Gilmore mansion. Before Lorelai could stop her, Rory rang the doorbell. They were let in by a maid who took them to the den where Emily and Richard were waiting. Everything went fine until dessert. That was when Emily brought up the reason they were all there.

"Richard, should we tell them now about our idea?" she asked.

"Of course. Go ahead," replied Richard.

Emily looked at her daughter and son-in-law. "Your father and I have decided to set up a college fund for Rory."

"And here it is, the real reason we're here," muttered Lorelai. She didn't need her parent's paying to help Rory go to college. She and Luke could do that.

"What was that?" asked Emily.

"Nothing Mother." Lorelai forced a smile.

"Now, as I was saying your father and I have decided to set up a college fund for Rory. Each month we will put in two hundred dollars and it will be available for Rory when she goes to college."

Lorelai crossed her arms. "Mom, that's nice, but I think Luke and I can handle it. Besides, Rory is only ten, almost eleven. She can apply for scholarships."

"But this will help if she doesn't get any scholarships," said Richard.

"Well, then she can apply for financial aid," protested Lorelai. She didn't need her parent's money. Not now and not ever.

Luke spoke up. He thought Emily and Richard had a good plan. "Lorelai, it'll be hard to pay for Harvard, you know that."

Lorelai shook her head. "Luke, no."

Luke sighed. He knew that face. It meant that Lorelai's decision was final and no one could change her mind. "I'm sorry," he told Emily and Richard as he, Lorelai and Rory left. Luke didn't even try to talk to Lorelai and neither did Rory. When they got home Rory told her parents goodnight and went on to bed. When Lorelai and Luke got to their room he turned to her. "Okay, so what was that all about?"

"Luke, we don't need them to pay for Rory's education. I got by just fine without their help."

Luke nodded. He remembered that Lorelai had never wanted anything to do with her parent's money when they were younger and the same was true now. "Okay, we'll find a way."

"Thank you," said Lorelai, kissing him before heading to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Thought I'd add a picture of what their house looks like. I think this first one looks more like Lorelai. The second one is one I think her parents would have chosen for her. I like them both but which one do you like? Go to and type in the number. And oh yeah enjoy and review!**

** plan_ ?PlanNumber=85616&src=search**

** plan_ ?PlanNumber=56617&src=search**

The next few weeks passed quickly. At least two days a week Emily would call Lorelai to persuade her to change her mind. But Lorelai wasn't going to change her mind. It was now the end of September and the concierge had quit at the inn and Lorelai had been busy helping Mia choose a new one. Michel Gerard was French and Mia could barely understand him. He wasn't a people person but he had experience so Mia and Lorelai agreed to hire him.

These days Lorelai was busy planning Rory's eleventh birthday party. Her little girl was growing up so fast. It was hard to believe that almost eleven years ago she gave birth to the most wonderful thing in her life.

* * *

On the morning of October eighth Lorelai crawled out of bed and headed toward's her daughter's room. She crawled into bed beside her sleeping daughter and whispered, "Good morning, birthday girl."

Rory yawned and snuggled up closer to her mom. "Hi, Mom."

"Can you believe it? You're eleven. Pretty soon you'll be a teenager. Have you enjoyed this past year?" asked Lorelai.

Rory nodded. "I'm glad we found Dad and that we're a family."

"Me too, and to think it all started on this day eleven years ago." And Lorelai launched into her annual story. After the "story" Lorelai and Rory both fell asleep again.

When Luke got up a couple hours later he noticed Lorelai was out of bed. He quietly checked on Rory and found his wife in bed sleeping with their daughter. Luke smiled to himself as he made a pot of coffee and chocolate chip pancakes with eggs and bacon. The girls came down to the kitchen not long after. "Hey, there's the birthday girl," said Luke, giving Rory a hug.

Rory grinned. "Thanks Dad." She looked at the table set for breakfast. "Is that for me?"

"It is. Today you can have anything you want."

"What about me?" asked Lorelai, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Luke shook his head, smiling. "Nope, sorry, it's Rory's day today," he teased.

They sat down for breakfast and Rory talked about the presents she hoped she would get that night at her party. After breakfast, Lorelai helped Luke clear the table and load the dishes in the dishwasher as Rory got ready for church. "Can you believe she's eleven? I feel like I just brought her home from the hospital," said Lorelai.

Luke grunted in response. He knew she meant nothing by her comment, but every now and then she would say something or Rory would say something that would remind him of all he missed out on.

"You okay?" asked Lorelai.

"I'm fine. We gotta get ready for church." Luke headed across the hall to their room to finish gettng ready.

Lorelai followed him and soon the three of them were headed to church. It was a silent ride. After church they headed over to the diner. Once there Luke went back to the supply room to check on what he had for that day. He didn't turn around when Lorelai came into the room.

"Okay Luke, spill it. What is bothering you today?" asked Lorelai as she closed the door.

"You really want to know?" he asked her angrily.

She was taken aback by his angry tone. "Yes." She braced herself for his answer.

"Okay, fine. I hate the fact that I missed out on so much!" said Luke.

Lorelai sighed and crossed her arms. "That still bothers you?"

"It doesn't bother me. But I don't like being reminded when you or Rory say something. Like you bringing her home from the hospital. I should've been with you."

"Oh, Luke, it doesn't matter."

"But it does! I never got to hold her as a baby or help during the midnight feedings. I didn't get to tuck her into bed at night." Luke sat down on one of the boxes in the room and put his head in his hands. He didn't know why it still bothered him. After all he had pictures of Rory growing up.

Lorelai walked over and put her arms around him. "Babe, it's not your fault. Maybe we should've fought harder to stay together back then. I hate that you weren't there either." Lorelai sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. "The first time Rory was sick, she had pneumonia and was only five months old. I was scared that week. I had Mia to help me, but I really needed you." She sighed again. "But we can't change the past. If we could, I would've done everything to keep us together."

Luke sighed. "You're right. We can't change the past. But at least we're together now."

Lorelai nodded. "Exactly. Now I believe we have a birthday girl wondering where we are." She took his hand as they walked out of the room.

* * *

That night the house was filled with practically everyone from town and some of the kids from Rory's sixth grade class. The party was going really well and Rory was really excited. Sookie brought out the cake and everyone sang and watched as Rory opened her presents. She was glad that everyone was able to make it.

"So birthday girl, how does it feel to be another year older?" asked Lorelai after everyone had left. She and Luke were getting the living room and kitchen cleaned up.

"Good I guess." Rory shrugged. "I don't feel any different."

"Do you like your presents?" asked Luke.

Rory nodded. She loved all her presents. Even the one from her parents. She had gotten a new bookcase from them. "Yes, but..." she trailed off.

"But what?" asked Lorelai, as she put some dishes in the dishwasher.

"I still want a little sister or a little brother. Almost everyone in my class has a sister or a brother. Kathy Fincher has a younger brother and Lindsay Lister ahs two little brothers and a little sister. Besides Lane, I'm the only one that's an only child," complained Rory.

Luke and Lorelai looked at each other. Until now Rory had been quiet about the sibling issue. "Sweetie we know you want a brother or sister but now isn't the right time," replied Lorelai.

"So, when will it be the right time?" asked Rory.

"I don't know. I guess we'll have to talk about. Now, you have school tomorrow and it's time to go to bed." Lorelai waited until Rory was upstairs. "What are we going to do?" she asked Luke.

"We'll figure it out," answered Luke. "We could always start trying and see what happens. As I recall, you got pregnant the first time we slept together." He grinned at his wife.

Lorelai smirked at him. "Oh ha ha." She grew serious. "You're right. Let's see what happens. Besides it's up to God when we have another baby." They finished cleaning and then headed across the hall to their room.


	32. Chapter 32

A couple days later kids who had gone to Rory's party were still talking about it and telling her how great it was. That afternoon Rory and Lane walked to the diner for a snack and to do homework. Luke's Diner was one of the few Mrs. Kim-approved places Lane could go.

"So, what did Luke and Lorelai say when you told them?" asked Lane.

Rory had just told Lane how she had brought up the subject of wanting a sibling. "All they said was that it wasn't the right time. How can it not be the right time? They've been married for four months."

Lane nodded. "Yeah, I sometimes wish I had a sibling. It'd make Mama easier to deal with. She's still mad Dad left her last year."

Rory nodded. She knew how Mrs. Kim was strict with her daughter. It made her glad she and her parents got along so well. She pushed open the door to the diner and walked in with Lane behind her. "Hey, Dad."

"Hey, kiddo," said Luke, smiling at his daughter. "What do you two want today?"

"Umm, chili fries," answered Rory. "And cokes, please."

"You should really eat more fruits and vegetables," commented Luke before going to get the order. Everyday he found something new in Rory that reminded him of Lorelai when they had been younger. Such as Rory's intake of junk food. It was just like Lorelai's. Of course at Rory's age, Lorelai was drinking coffee. But they didn't allow that with Rory, not until she was a teenager.

A couple hours later both girls had their homework completed. Lane stood up and gathered her stuff. "I should go. It's almost dinner time in the Kim household." And then she left.

Rory gathered her stuff and went to the counter. "Where's Mom?"

"She has to work late tonight, so it's just you and me tonight, kid," said Luke. He told Caesar to lock up after closing time and then he and Rory headed home.

* * *

Lorelai hated working nights but she did it anyway. Tonight she was filling in for the night manager, Tobin, because he was sick. Since there was no one around, she was bored. But then the phone rang.

"Independence Inn, this is Lorelai," said Lorelai.

"Lorelai, it's your mother," said Emily. "I just found out that Christopher is in town."

Lorelai panicked. She didn't want to see Christopher, so she decided to just go hang out in Mia's office just in case. She left the door cracked enough to be able to see anyone who walked in. "Why is he in town?"

"His parent's are leaving for Florida soon. I guess he came to town to visit with them. But I thought you should know just in case he shows up at your house or at the inn."

"Well, uh, thanks for letting me know. Bye." Lorelai hung up and sighed. For the rest of the night she hid in the office. Luckily, Christopher never showed up and she was glad he didn't.

* * *

The next couple weeks were spent trying to decide what to do for Halloween. Rory informed Lorelai that she didn't want to go trick-or-treating this year. When Lorelai asked why, Rory just said she was too old for it now. So she and Rory settled on decorating the house and the day before Halloween, Luke came home to find Lorelai, Rory and Sookie in the kitchen baking Halloween cookies shaped as ghosts, spiders and pumpkins.

"What's going on?" asked Luke.

"We're getting ready for Halloween!" said Lorelai. "Sookie is baking the cookie and Rory and I are decorating them. We went shopping today and bought almost all the candy Taylor had at the store." She grabbed a spoon and took a bite of the frosting they were using for the pumpkins.

Luke looked at her. "Eating that is not good for you. And you can't possibly eat all that candy."

"Of course not, they're for the trick or treaters, silly," said Lorelai.

"Okay, but do not eat all that icing, it's not good for you. Now, I'm gonna take a shower before I make dinner." Then he headed down the hall towards the bedroom.

"You sure are lucky to have Luke," said Sookie. "I hope I find that one day." Sookie had never been jealous of Lorelai's relationship with Luke so she wasn't sure why she was jealous now.

Lorelai looked at her best friend. "Sook, I'm sure out there, there is a guy that is going to be crazy about you. Don't worry about it."

Sookie nodded. "You're right. Okay, I think we baked enough cookies to feed an army. I gotta get home. I'll see you tomorrow." Then she left.

The next night was Halloween and even though it was fun handing out candy to the kids, it made Lorelai sad. Her baby was now too old to go trick-or-treating. But she didn't let it bother her. She and Rory stayed up that night watching scary movies, but regretted it later when Rory crawled into bed between her and Luke. Yes life so far was wonderful but now she was ready to have another kid.


End file.
